How the Sixers reacted to the Chauvin Verdict
On April 20th, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of three charges for the death of George Floyd. For the longest time NBA players have been raising their voices on social injustice and police brutality. On May 26, 2020; in the middle of a NBA suspension and quarantine, we saw a video in which Floyd was in a chokehold for nine minutes by Chauvin.
When the NBA bubble began, one of the most important topics that teams wanted to highlight was social injustice and voting rights. On the sixers side, the most spoken athletes on the bubble were Tobias Harris, Kyle O' Quinn and Matisse Thybulle. In some episodes of Thybulle's vlogs in the bubble, the group talked about how they can bring and promote the topic in and off the court.
Following the verdict, the Sixers shared the following statement:
"Today's verdict, which found Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd, represents a step towards accountability. While the outcome of the trial may deliver a sense of relief, it will not bring back the life that was tragically taken. We know that full justice will only be achieved with systemic change. Our thoughts are with Mr. Floyd's family and friends, and extend to all those affected. Last year, many of us made a pledge to address systemic racism. Now, more than ever, we must reaffirm our commitment to that fight. There is still so much more work to do."
After the shootaround of the team, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers encouraged the team to speak on about the non-basketball issues that matters them the most.
Rivers stated on shootaround media: the fact that we are celebrating a man who committed murder that he was going to jail, I thought about that, and I’m not so sure if we’ve come a long way, or if we have a long way to go. You can think of that either way, but the right thing happened, obviously, and so I was excited about that.
Later on Danny Green said that: Doc has lived a good amount of it. He knows what it was like back then, and went through it and he said, which is sad, that if it happened back then, there probably wouldn’t even been a trial, which is crazy, but it’s a win.
Also Rivers and Green commented about the experience of Matisse Thybulle's father who's born Haitian that "Gave him hope again"
Note from the writer:
As we see the veredict of Derek Chauvin, there's still so much to do. Just because George Floyd got his justice served, doesn't mean he will not come back to life. There's still much work to do regarding accountabiltity from police officers. We also need to educate ourselves on the real life issues going on in our comunities.
here's a carrd explaining the issues going on right now