JORDAN CLARKSON couldn’t hide his anger and so were new Meralco Bolt Aaron Black and San Miguel Beer guard Chris Ross as they aired their protest surrounding the death of George Floyd and two other colored Americans over the past week in the US.
Clarkson, the Filipino-American guard who played for the LA Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers and now wears a Utah Jazz jersey, aired his protest along with his former Cavaliers teammate JR Smith.
“I witnessed a peaceful protest. A lot of emotion and unity, the time for change has been passed…don’t forget the message because of the tone that is projected in,” Clarkson said in his social-media account.
Philippine Basketball Association players Black and Ross also couldn’t keep their emotions to themselves.
“As a half black American [that] was raised here in the Philippines, I can truly say that different races can coexist without all the hate. [It] starts with accepting other people as they are and not stereotyping based on one’s skin color or culture,” Black said on Twitter.
Black, playing out of Ateneo, was recently signed by Meralco where he joined his father and coach Norman Black.
“Let’s do our part and speak up against not only racism in the US but the injustices happening around us here in the Philippines as well. Together we can make a difference,” Black added.
Ross, an eight-time PBA champion with the Beermen, also slammed discrimination against colored people.
“Why is it that dark skinned people are looked at as criminals or thugs or dirty or ugly or gangsters or ‘hip hop,’” Ross said.
A week ago, a handcuffed Floyd died literally under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who was later charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, on the other hand, was chased and killed by armed white men as he jogged through a south Georgia neighborhood, and Breonna Taylor, a black emergency medical worker was fatally shot by police serving a narcotics search warrant in Kentucky.