Following inflammatory comments made by Trump and renewed attention on Colin Kaepernick and his kneeling protest against police brutality and white supremacy, NBA player Damian Lillard gave his two cents on the situation.
This past week, while speaking with Oregon Public Broadcasting host Dave Miller, Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard said that the treatment of today's athletes who are protesting reminded him of another moment in history when the voices of people of color were being silenced.
"Looking at it now, how they just want us to go out and play basketball and you know, 'put that jersey on and be proud' and 'don't represent anything, don't stand for anything, don't have an opinion, just be respectful' and 'go out there and play for me'—it makes me think about kind of the way it was with slavery, when it was, they want the young, strong and you know, 'His arms are long and he's got big calves.' It reminds me of that," Lillard said.
"They want us to go out and do what we're built to do. We're good athletes; we're physically strong; we're very capable…They don’t want to know what we think; they don't care how we feel about something. It's just 'Go out there and do what your job is.'"
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum recently sent out a memo to all 30 teams to say that all players and and coaches must stand for the national anthem. In other Lillard news, the NBA player/rapper linked with Lil Wayne to drop the track "Run It Up."
