Williams writes she ‘won’t be silent’ about police killings
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Serena Williams returns a shot to Karolina Pliskova, of the Czech Republic, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, in New York. Williams says she “won’t be silent” about the killing of black men by police officers.
Star tennis player Serena Williams says she “won’t be silent” about the killing of black men by police officers.
Williams wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that she was inspired to speak out after asking her black 18-year-old nephew to drive her to a meeting. Their car traveled past a police officer, and Williams “quickly checked to see if he was obliging by the speed limit” so as to avoid an interaction with the officer.
Williams recalled “that horrible video of the woman in the car when a cop shot her boyfriend” — a reference to when Philando Castile was shot by a Minnesota police officer in July — and said she worried about similar fates for members of her family.
Williams also quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying “there comes a time when silence is betrayal,” before ending the post with “I Won’t Be Silent.”
Williams joins a high-profile group of athletes speaking out about social injustice. San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem in the preseason and has been joined by professional, collegiate and high school athletes nationwide.
4 responses to “Williams writes she ‘won’t be silent’ about police killings”
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Cool!
But if a non-black says: “I won’t be silent about blacks killing non-blacks”
would that be cool with you ?
It’s called Reverse Racism.
I think you’re missing the point here. This is about certain white police officers, who are supposed to be representatives of law & justice, who have racist tendencies that results in shooting Black men without just cause. You don’t hear about black police officers unjustly killing white citizens because that does not occur. As an young Asian man, growing up in the Mainland, I also experienced racism from white police officers who stopped me without just cause and did not allow me to walk from the UC San Diego campus I was attending to the predominantly white town of La Jolla to do grocery shopping. So I understand the feeling, when police officers who are supposed to protect you, are doing the opposite by either harming you or infringing on your freedom based upon the color of your skin.
I am not sure if what you described harmed you or what response they gave you when you asked them why you were stopped. Doesn’t sound like we have the whole story. Oh, and by the way, you are wrong about black officers not killing white citizens. You may also want to look into the predominant race who are murdering African Americans- 90% are African American suspects- get your facts straight.
I never said anything about “the predominant race” that is killing African Americans. You need to get your facts straight PIZZA!!!
When the San Diego police officers stopped me. They didn’t give me a reason. They just started illegally searching my backpack, looking for drugs that weren’t there. Then they asked me what I was doing (in this neighborhood). Then they told me I couldn’t go shopping in La Jolla and escorted me back to campus. This happened multiple times until I finally gave up and asked my Caucasian roommates to go grocery shopping for me.