ESPN’s Doris Burke recounted a recent conversation she had with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James about the death of George Floyd.
Burke chatted with former NBA player Richard Jefferson about how James was the first person she spoke with following Floyd’s death, with the Lakers star offering an emotional response about the situation.
"The most impactful thing to me has been the resilience, the persistence, the incredible heart that black people have shown this country over time …"
In the wake of George Floyd's death, @heydb tells @Rjeff24 about the conversation she had with LeBron James. pic.twitter.com/iJ0RNodAZf
— ESPN (@espn) June 8, 2020
“The first person I reached out in the NBA, when we saw what we saw on TV was LeBron James,” Burke said. “He said to me, ‘We as black people, we’re tired and we’re angry and we’re sad and imagine any human emotion you could have been through. That’s what we feel.'”
Burke then offered an anecdote, in which she had been the lone white person on an ESPN show she was hosting and the quick education she received regarding racial issues in America.
Shifting back to her conversation with James, Burke then said that James discussed the multiple emotions he had been feeling in the wake of the Floyd tragedy.
James has been one of the more vocal NBA players discussing the continuing tragedy of African-Americans dying as a result of police interactions.
Last week, James criticized NFL quarterback Drew Brees for his comments concerning kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. Brees subsequently apologized for those remarks after being the subject of severe criticism, including some from his own teammates with the New Orleans Saints.
With Floyd’s funeral set for this week, James and his Lakers teammates are hoping to simply focus on basketball in the months ahead. The resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season is set to get underway on July 31.
