Toronto Raptors have discussed boycotting games in wake of the Jacob Blake shooting?

There were multiple officers there. They could have easily tackled him to the ground and put him in cuffs when he was WALKING to his car. Again walking to his car. He wasn’t running or trying to get away. One of the officers could have very easily went around the opposite way to blow his door so he couldn’t get in the car. The others could have tackled him to the ground. Shooting him in the back 7 times is just unspeakable. The cop is a coward and better be tried for attempted murder.
If you are not prepared to protect the people
of the community then you should not be a cop.
I have family members in the force who are absolutely sickened with what went down in the video.

 

I know this is debate material and we likely won't agree, but this stuff doesn't change anything.

This just makes people feel better about themselves as if they are doing something. The people pushing these protests aren't pushing for more training of cops. They are pushing for defunding of cops like what they did here in Austin and in other cities. They also aren't criticizing the rioters attacking people and burning the community. They are demonizing police more than anything and making them the scapegoat for the problems in their community. Removing police doesn't fix the problems. I haven't seen any other major solutions for change than this being pushed by the people protesting and rioting.

I wish the cops had better grappling training and if they did then they would have been able to control Blake on the ground initially. I train with cops and work with them and they desperately need more training because they get effectively ZERO training in this area. After Floyd cities are moving away from training grappling and control that would have helped in MANY cases including this one.

Blake was fighting with the cops and resisting arrest before he escaped back to his car and started to reach inside. They also thought Blake had a knife and a witness said they were yelling at him to drop the knife. Maybe that's why they didn't rush to tackle him? He also had a warrant issued for his arrest about a month ago for felony sexual assault and domestic violence. I wish the situation ended differently but the Blake's actions played a major role in guns being drawn after the police completely failed to control him. Also, it is completely unacceptable for 2 officers to not be able to control 1 person. They apparently failed with their taser attempt too.

The police departments and unions are at fault for not giving their officers proper and ongoing training. However, once he started to reach into his car he left the cops with few options based on their training.

Spoiler

That's an example of what happens when a suspect can't be detained and starts to reach back in his car.

It's a tragic situation that could have been avoided with proper grappling and control training in my opinion. Maybe the officer should have waited to see what Blake would do before he opened fire. Maybe Blake could have made different decisions too. This isn't another Philando Castile tragedy and I think it is wrong to take all blame away from Blake in this situation.

 

cops should of just left that man alone and go do something productive for once...what kind of people become the cops anyway? out of millions of different jobs available in todays world they chose to be a cop...lolol

 

You could pay me a million dollars a year and I still wouldn't be a cop. I don't understand how anyone can do it.

 

On topic with thread: I'm not down with a boycott, but if the Raptors want to do it, kudos. I don't think the people who say 'this will get people talking and create positive change' are correct, I think that's naive after everything that has already happened. If a boycott happens, people have already formed opinions on this and will run and shoot arrows at each other from the safety of their echo chambers.... and then we will have one less reason (basketball) to have dialogue and human interaction.

Sidebar: I fear that the outrage being stoked about this stuff is going to lead to a cycle of more people being flippant and escalating things with cops. It's human nature to get mad about this stuff. I'm mad just reading about it.

The cops didn't need to shoot this guy. Definitely didn't need to shoot 7 times (and how did 4 bullets hit out of 7? sheesh).

When tensions and adrenaline run high, though, de-escalation is the strategy to use. The cops have to use it. They are the professionals.

....but so do the citizens. Sadly social media confuses anger with "justice" and it feels cathartic to share and multiple our fury.

If you really don't trust the system, even if it's for righteous reasons (I don't trust the legal system), escalating the situation is the worst of multiple bad options.

Just saying, I'm not going to "blame" or "victim shame" him for getting shot. Stupid, unnecessary force. But he is not blameless. People hitching their moral wagon to this situation can't be surprised about getting some mixed reactions.

 

The problem is NBA players are slacktivists at best who thought painting “Black Lives Matter” on the court and wearing woke jerseys was the proper response to decades of systematic racism and police brutality.

The idea of “keeping the conversation going“ or “raising awareness” is flawed from the beginning. You don’t need to raise any further awareness for something that has been on going for decades and prevalent in every police department in the country.

What is needed is bold action and these athletes lack the fortitude to follow through. Even the best of them — Colin Kaepernick — caved in and thought $100 million from NFL owners to social justice charityies was enough. Had Kapernick followed through with his lawsuit against NFL and exposed their collusion resulting in the nullification of the CBA and the potential loss of an entire season, then maybe, just maybe there would have been some real change.

As for NBA players, their gutless response to Hong Kong showed the are not going to be the vehicle for any social change against injustice. So now they will probably double down on more “awareness” platitudes and useless hashtags. There is no Jackie Robinson or Muhammad Ali among these money worshipers.

 

Have you ever had police draw guns on you for speeding 5mile over the limit?

How about for just hanging outside of a club?

Some Police just disregard protocol.

I don’t think they were trained to shoot someone in the back 8 times. If tasers didn't work as you heard
Perhaps the two could of apprehended him without firing their service arms...........

 

It's sad that these dudes thought what they are doing would make a difference. They actually didn't do anything. The NBA did everything. The NBA painted Black Lives Matter on the court. The NBA printed their jerseys and choose what messages could and could not be printed on them. The NBA decided that they would not enforce their rule of standing for the National Anthem. The NBA decided they would allow them to make a fool of themselves in interviews asking for arrests that will NEVER happen.

I think they were played. Ratings have taken a significant hit in some part due to the players not allowing fans that use sports as an escape from reality to have that escape while watching them. When you couple that with the loss in revenue due to the Rona, the NBA now has grounds to cancel the CBA and negotiate one less player friendly. Maybe this doesn't happen or maybe it would have happened anyway, but that's what I think will happen and why it will happen.

What's also funny about all of this is that Kyrie Irving might have been right all along. He wasn't the only player, but he was certainly the biggest star that spoke up against the bubble. The NBA also played the players by getting them to agree to the bubble so the owners could recoup some lost revenue. Kyrie might even be right in thinking players should start their own league. I'm sorry for thinking that his intentions had everything to do with LeBron.

 

I think I understand why Fred VanVleet feels the way he does, although I am not in his shoes. It's an emotional moment, one I'm viewing with disbelief even though I've seen the cavalier use of deadly force by members of the police happen time and time again in different parts of the country. It never seems to end.

These terrible and inexcusable incidents happen, yet people attempt to find excuses for the members of the police that are responsible. I don't think this is the place to have a discussion about those excuses. However, you were right to make your post, OP. It's definitely a story that affects the league.

 

I don't think sitting out these games makes a big difference. They'll just make up the games. If Milwaukee and LA make the finals and then they both sit out the finals then that would send an incredibly powerful message. Nobody would ever forget that.

 

check out the D&D thread

 

Many officers wont be officers within 5 yrs whether this movement is successful or not.

Who would want to be a cop these days.

You tell a guy not to get in his car and he reaches in anyway. I can see exactly why the cop shot Blake. (He didn't know what Blake was reaching for and wasn't taking any chances on getting shot.) I'm just glad I dont have to make decisions like this in the heat of the moment. Especially when a wrong decision means I could be shot and possibly killed.

The players are going to run off more fans.

 

While I think the officers had ample opportunities to stop him before he reached into the car, I agree with you that not many people are excited about being a police officer right now.

 

Good for them....we're sick and tired of being sick and tired.

 

Unfortunately, I think sitting out isn't going to do anything. The people that hate BLM are still going to hate BLM and they will just see the players as spoiled athletes that won't do their job.

You're not going to change the mind of those people so they are basically going to preach to the choir, that's all this will be.

I think it's right to say that most of the NBA players are slactivists that think wearing a BLM shirt is doing something, but they have to be a lot more active locally. Be vocal about local politicians YOU support, support them with money, drive out the vote in your local areas.

Legislation is the ONLY thing that's going to change this because as there are a lot of people that are for criminal justice reform, there are many that are not.

I agree that raising awareness about this topic is done with. Every single person in the country knows about this and has their feelings on it.

Boycotting 1 game does nothing for me. Nothing. The NBA will just reschedule game 1, no big deal, nothing lost, nothing gained. People against BLM will just call them spoil and talk about how they don't want to see politics in their sports.

Walking out of the bubble entirely and committing yourself and your money to the cause? That would help a lot more.

You can't half-step activism, either you're all in or you're not, and usually, the best thing you can do is get involved in local politics.

 

All this does is punish NBA fans who support the BLM movement, people who are tired of social injustice etc.

Watching NBA games is a gateway, a breath of fresh air from all the horrible things going on in our country today.

But if the players feel that this might help in some way, I will support them.

Just my 2 cents.

 

FYI: What happens when someone does reach into car. during a stop, after tazing, after trying to control suspect...much the same as what happened in WI.

Also shows that simply tackling the person doesn't always work, although this guy was a lot bigger.

Also points out to issues with de-escalation. The guy wouldn't be arrested. So, you either let him go, and probably let him kill or assault someone else, or you do what they did. Nobody thinks of that first part in all the defund and de-escalate discussions. You're likely just changing it so that guilty people are let free, and innocent people die....yet lots of people seem on board with that? Or, you are having this very situation occur with unarmed police...again, not a good scenario.

 

The Knicks have been boycotting games for years.

 

You are now banned from MSG alongside Charles Oakley.