Miami Heat's Meyers Leonard and Duncan Robinson make meaningful progress to social injustice battle
Miami Heat players Duncan Robinson and Meyers Leonard had perhaps the most impacting reaction to the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, who is black, was the latest minority casualty after an incident with police. He died Monday hours after being in custody of four Minneapolis officers.
Leonard, who is white, was among the first white athletes to show support for Floyd. After video surfaced of the encounter earlier this week, he expressed his thoughts on Twitter.
"You know what. I’m just going to say it..," Leonard wrote. "I’ve become (at times) embarrassed to be a white (privileged) male in this country. The bullshit hatred and racism has GOT TO STOP. I just don’t understand. I was raised to love all people. RIP George Floyd and many others."
The words were important because several black athletes were asking for the backing of non-minority celebrities. ESPN analyst Jalen Rose suggested it during a recent appearance on "Get Up."
"We need people who aren't black. We need people who aren't brown," Rose said. "When you know these things are happening in your society, have a voice, a legitimate one. Lock and step with us, protest with us, protest with us not just when it's convenient."
After Leonard's post, Robinson chimed in by mentioning other cases of minorities _ Ahmaud Arbery and Breona Taylor _ who died after encounters with police.
"I feel embarrassed that it has taken heinous acts such as the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd to incite me to finally find a voice," Robinson wrote on Instagram. However, I realize that the benefactors of this same system must condemn it for what it is. A lack of racial justice is clearly ailing our country and we must all support action that intends to remedy it."
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