LeBron James Demands Justice For Breonna Taylor: We Want The Cops Arrested!

LeBron James Demands Justice For Breonna Taylor: We Want The Cops Arrested!

LeBron James chose to talk about Breonna Taylor instead of basketball in the virtual press conference held after his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, completed a scrimmage with the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday (July 23). Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old African-American EMT who was on shot March 13 in her own Louisville, Kentucky apartment during a police raid. Although the incident is under investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron as well as by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), none of the involved officers have been charged or arrested for their role in the young woman’s fatal shooting.

NBA standout Lebron James has voiced his opinion and is using his platform to speak out and demand justice. He said that he has never been ashamed to discuss these types of topics and told reporters via Zoom:

“I never shied away from being who I am and speaking about things that not only affect me, that hit home for me, but also affect my community and affect Black people because we’ve been going through it a lot.

He continued,

I’ve seen a video today of a Black man inside like a Walmart or a Target or wherever trying to buy a bike for his son and the cops were called — he had a receipt and everything — and the cops were called on him and they arrested him inside the store and took him outside. It’s just heartbreaking, man. You guys don’t understand. Unless you’re a person of color, you guys don’t understand. I understand that you might feel for it. But you could never truly understand what it is to be Black in America.”

Trayvon Martin

In regards to Breonna Taylor, Lebron James said it shouldn’t be necessary for a video to prove the severity of Breonna Taylor’s case as the video of the police-involved death of another African-American, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota brought much attention to that incident:

“It’s fortunate that we had the George Floyd video to see it. I mean, is that what we need to see a video of Breonna being killed to realize how bad the situation is? I don’t even believe they were at the right place, right? Cops weren’t even at the right place. They just knocked down the wrong door and started doing what they do at that point in time — and that’s just shooting away. That’s just not okay.”

He also said the officers involved in Breonna Taylor‘s death needed to be arrested:

“We want the cops arrested who committed that crime. Obviously in the state of Kentucky, what’s going down there, I know a lot of people are feeling the same. And us as the NBA, and us as the players, and me as one of the leaders of this league, I want her family to know and I want the state of Kentucky to know that we feel for it and we want justice. That’s what it’s all about. What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. And this is a wrong situation that’s going on in my eyes and in a lot of other eyes.”

What do you think about Lebron James’ decision to speak out about Breonna Taylor during his post-game press conference? Tell us in the comments!