Since the senseless death of George Floyd, protests have erupted throughout the country and many have taken to social media to demand justice. And as tensions continue to escalate, Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. offered a...suggestion on how to channel that righteous rage.
“As much as you pray for George family, gotta also pray for the police officer(s) who were involved in this evil,” he tweeted. “As hard as it is, pray for them instead of hate them...Pray that God changes their hearts.”
Unsurprisingly, Porter’s plea for compassion was met with outrage, as many are reluctant to extend mercy to the same police officers who refused to show the same to Floyd.
Floyd’s childhood friend, former NBA star Stephen Jackson, also made it a point to publicly object to Porter’s proposal.
“Man go sit yo young privileged ass down. Either u with us or against us,” he posted on Instagram. “Easy to say that nobody dying close to u. Pick a side.”
Other members of the NBA’s fraternity offered their own opinions on the matter as well.
Despite the backlash, Porter has thus far refused to delete his initial tweet or back down from his position.
“All hate will do is cause the same cycle to continue,” he replied on Twitter. “Only God and love can break [the] cycle and cause real change.”
I definitely won’t knock Porter for being a man of faith and believing in God, but there’s a time and a place for everything, and clearly this ain’t it. As a public figure, he should also be mindful that expressing his opinion in this matter can easily be misconstrued or used to excuse the actions of the police officers involved—though it’s possible that could actually be his intent.
It’s clear that this is a polarizing issue that won’t be going away anytime soon, so as the call for justice reaches a fever a pitch, hopefully, Porter’s plea for mercy won’t come back to haunt him in the future.
DISCUSSION
Ok, I’ll do that when those cops listen to the prayers of George Floyd (and an entire crowd of onlookers) saying he can’t breath, he’s unconscious, please check his pulse, and calling out for his mother as he was slowly strangled to death.