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With millions of people around the world taking to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, who was killed on video by Minneapolis police last week, every single member of the Los Angeles Lakers showed solidarity with the demonstrators on social media over the weekend.
On Wednesday, at least one current Laker and one of the team’s most beloved legends took the next step, and went to march with those protesters.
Danny Green, who only joined the Lakers over the summer but has quickly involved himself in the community already, demonstrated in Downtown Los Angeles, according to Mirjam Swanson of the L.A. Daily News:
With thousands of others making their way through Downtown L.A., from City Hall to the Hall of Justice, Green marched Wednesday evening with Lakers coaching associate Jamal Boykin and “Inside the Green Room” co-host Harrison Sanford.
A few photos of Danny Green at the #GeorgeFloydProtests in Downtown L.A. yesterday https://t.co/l3hKltpUA3 pic.twitter.com/LHAGXS5hTS
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) June 4, 2020
Former Lakers Metta World Peace (who recently changed his name to Metta Sandiford-Artest) also joined protesters for hours on Wednesday:
5 hours later. Still got the sign with the taped piece attached. Respect. pic.twitter.com/huf4yKhzQ6
— Adam Howes (@Howsito) June 4, 2020
Good for Green and Sandiford-Artest for putting their bodies where their mouth is and marching for an issue they’re passionate about. It’s easy to post on social media, but takes more courage, conviction and commitment to follow it up by taking to the streets to demonstrate for justice in the middle of a global pandemic. Much respect to both of them.
It was reported on Tuesday that the NBA will return on July 31 with 22 teams at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with each team playing the next eight games on their schedule before possible play-in games to determine the eighth seed in either conference. But as excited as most readers of this site will be to see the NBA back, it is cool to see that the Lakers, especially Green, did not let that news distract them from the quest for justice that is much more important than any sports right now.
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