For Steve Kerr and the 2022 NBA champions, their recent trip to D.C. marked an evolutionary shift. HowardBeck on why the Warriors spent their White House visit discussing gun violence:
. The Bucks, who won the title in July ’21, resumed the custom after Biden and Harris were elected the previous year.
President Biden praised the Warriors not only for their championship run but also for their activism.Biden thanked Kerr specifically and mentioned the loss of his father to gun violence, a gesture Kerr later called “incredibly flattering.” “Anytime we, my family and I, would read a story about somebody dying by gun violence, we knew exactly what the family was feeling, how devastating it was,” Kerr says.
Meanwhile, NBA players were growing increasingly engaged on the political stage, in part catalyzed by the 2016 election of Trump, whose candidacy was vocally opposed by Curry and LeBron James. Then came the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the Black Lives Matter movement in ’20. That summer, after another police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wis., NBA players staged a wildcat strike that shut down the league for three days.
And, says Sen. Murphy, the more that athletes use their platform to advocate for social change, the better. Murphy has been working for stricter gun laws since the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012, which happened a month after his election to the Senate. The school is located in the House district he previously represented. It’s taken a decade to build a gun safety movement that can equal the might of the National Rifle Association.
Murphy adds, “I think what the Warriors recognize is that this actually isn’t a very controversial issue. It’s made to look controversial. But actually, 90 percent of Americans think you should have a background check on every gun sale. So sometimes sports figures don’t want to wade into issues that might split their fan base. The issue of guns actually doesn’t split a sports franchise’s fan base, if you’re talking about things like universal background checks.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Biden to deliver remarks on Ukraine at noon/1700 GMT -White HousePresident Joe Biden will deliver remarks on continued U.S. support to Ukraine at noon (1700 GMT), the White House said on Wednesday. The White House did not elaborate but the appearance will come after Germany said it would supply its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, overcoming misgivings about sending heavy weaponry that Kyiv sees as crucial to defeat Russia's invasion but Moscow casts as a dangerous provocation.
Read more »
White House fires back at GOP over call to fund Texas border security effortsThe White House shot back at a call from Texas Republicans for reimbursement for Operation Lone Star, accusing Republicans of failing to back federal funding moves.
Read more »
White House engaged in 'vast censorship enterprise' against conservatives, COVID critics: Missouri AGMissouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Louisiana Attorney General Jeffrey Landry filed suit last year against the Biden administration over its alleged suppression.
Read more »
Biden classified documents: 57% of Americans disapprove of White House handling, as stonewalling continuesA new poll finds that more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how the White House has handled President Joe Biden's classified documents controversy.
Read more »
Dozens of freshman Republicans ignore invite to party with Biden at the White HouseMost freshman Republicans snubbed President Biden's invitation to a White House party for new members of Congress on Tuesday, with only 11 of the 45 new GOP members showing up.
Read more »