The Bucks released an official statement on Monday addressing the matter as well . “ We stand firmly against reoccurring issues of excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging the Black community ,” the team said . “ Our organization will continue to stand for all Black lives as we demand accountability and systemic change on behalf of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor , Sylville Smith , Ernest Lacy , Dontre Hamilton , Tony Robinson , Joel Acevedo and countless other victims . We will work to enact policy change so these incidents no longer exist .”
“ Another black man was shot by a police officer ,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters on Monday . “ An incident like this is more important than anything we ’ re doing in Orlando .”
“ This is why we have so many people outraged over the country ,” Bucks star Kris Middleton said . “ The man was shot point-blank range over seven times in the back . It doesn ’ t get any more sickening than that . People are starting to see why black people are so afraid of police because at any time , no matter what they did right or wrong , their first act is to shoot us .” A number of other athletes have taken to social media to express their outrage at Blake ’ s shooting , including LeBron James , Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell and Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu .
Superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers was another player disgusted by the circumstances surrounding unnecessary Blake ’ s shooting . “ I think that goes to a systematic problem that needs to be addressed at some point ,” he said . “ There ’ s antiquated laws that are prejudicial against people of color in this state . I think the governor and the folks at the Capitol need to take a hard look at some of those systems that are in place .”
After the Thunder ’ s win on Monday , Chris Paul spoke out as well . “ It ’ s not right ,” he said . “ The win is good , but voting is real . I ’ m going to challenge all my NBA guys , other sports guys : Let ’ s try to get our entire teams registered to vote . There ’ s a lot of stuff going on in the country . You know , sports — it ’ s cool , it ’ s good and well , that ’ s how we take care of our families . But those are the real issues that we ’ ve got to start addressing .”
Jacob Blake ’ s father revealed that his son is paralyzed from the waist down . It ’ s unknown if that condition is temporary or permanent , but the family is still trying to make sense of what occurred . “ What justified all those shots ? What justified doing that in front of my grandsons ? What are we doing ?” he asked .