Diallo Supports Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter. Those are the words that will don the back of Hamidou Diallo's jersey when the season resumes.
A powerful message for a tumultuous time; Diallo and his Thunder teammates were given a list of social justice messages approved by NBA that can be worn where the nameplate would usually go. While the 76ers Mike Scott and the Celtics Jalen Brown were critical of the limited amount of phases players had to choose from, the idea of giving a voice to the voiceless is generally being embraced.
Diallo says, "I just looked at the word bank. I felt like that was the idea I wanted to push, and that's what I wanted to stand for in my time in Orlando."..."If we did have the opportunity to put what we wanted to on the back of our jersey, I would have chose something else and something very unique for myself."
"I feel like Black Lives Matter stands out for me, and that's something we're trying to push as a unit, and that's something that we really have to focus on, especially in each of our communities." Diallo will be joined by Bucks guard Kyle Korver who chose to support BLM as well.
"I really tried to think through it well."... "It's one thing to have random thoughts in your head and have a conversation with someone behind closed doors." ..."It's another thing to put something out there that people are going to critique."
"It was really healthy for me."... "On a personal [level], the best part of that, there was a lot of thought, years of trying to understand, and conversations to get to that point."
"But I think after doing that, I thought it was just the beginning point to try to understand and try to be helpful."
Diallo also says, "It's just something that has to be done at that point."...."Either you're gonna choose or your not, it's not just something that we really sit down and speak about."
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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.
