Kyle Lowry: The President 'Should Be Charged'
Even in the loss, the Toronto Raptors appeared to be figuring things out Wednesday night. There were signs of optimism in Toronto's 123-115 loss to the Phoenix Suns. Pascal Siakam looked like his old self for the first time in months. The offence played its best game of the season. And for those who can take moral victories in defeat, there were certainly things to be happy with.
But Kyle Lowry didn't want to talk about the game. When the 34-year-old Raptors guard sat down to speak to the media for his post-game availability he didn't want to talk about basketball.
"Honestly, the basketball doesn’t matter," he said. "Today, what occurred on Capitol Hill is kinda disturbing."
By now dealing with non-basketball issues has become all too common for NBA players. Over the past year, they've stood up repeatedly, demanding social change and the end to racial injustice. They've marched in the streets and fought for justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and generations of Black men, women, and children who have been systematically oppressed for over 400 years.
On Tuesday, they had to grapple with the realization that there would be no charges brought forth against the police in Kenosha, Wisc. who shot Blake in the back seven times, leaving him paralyzed.
"What happened in Kenosha and the officer not being charged is just kinda a slap in the face to Black people all over the world," Lowry said.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, the United States capital descended into chaos as pro-Donald Trump insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. By the end of the day, four people had been killed and many more injured.
“I’m not surprised, not surprised," Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. "I think if you have been paying attention the last few years, even longer than that, I think we can kind of see what’s going on. I grew up in this country so I’m kind of used to it and that’s not a good thing, but it’s the way things are.
"It’s a flawed system that preys on the weak and less fortunate and spits them out. So this is the world that we live in and if you don’t know what it is by now, you probably don’t want to know what it is or you’ve just not been paying attention. America has been racist and it’s probably going to continue to be racist and we got to continue to do our part inside of that system."
It was hard, as Lowry said, not to watch the scenes from Washington and wonder how things could have been different if the people had been different. President Trump quickly demanded law and order when Black Lives Matter protestors took to the streets over the spring and summer to demand change, but when his own supporters took their protests too far on Wednesday, he remained silent for hours before kindly asking them to return home.
"The fact that people were allowed to basically rush and take over a building without any type of enforcement, and just doing whatever they want, if they were people of colour I think it would’ve been a whole different situation," Lowry said.
As things finally began to settle in Washington late on Wednesday afternoon, Lowry decided he wanted to have a conversation with Suns guard Chris Paul. The two men are widely considered leaders in the NBA both on and off the court and felt their teams needed to make a statement.
"We watched the thing unfold today and we just spoke about coming together as two franchises," Lowry said. "As players, we just kind of wanted to show our unity together because at the end of the day we’re all staying together, and just showing a moment of solidarity between our two teams."
Just before tip-off, the two teams gather around midcourt linking arm in arm to form a circle during the national anthem. It was a powerful statement of unity on a day when things seemed so divided.
A few hours later, as Lowry sat at the podium answering questions something on the television seemed to catch his eye. The ticker, presumably, distracted him from the question as he read the news of the four people dead in Washington.
"What the f***?" he said. "The man that was the president incites that, he told them to do it. That man is a criminal. He should be charged. It’s crazy. That is crazy, man. You basically told them to go do this and people died. How is that even cool?
Then, the frustration of the day boiled over and Lowry walked off.
"Appreciate y’all, have a good night."
