Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant followed the lead of other NBA players, such as LeBron James and Derrick Rose, and wore an "I Can't Breathe" shirt during the pregame warm ups on Tuesday. Bryant said he, along with most of his teammates, wore the shirts to show support for the growing movement against the kind of police action that led to the homicide of Eric Garner.
Bryant became the latest NBA star to don the black "I Can't Breathe" shirt during pregame warm ups on Tuesday, explaining it was done to show support.
"I think it's us supporting that movement and supporting each other as well as athletes," Bryant said after the Lakers' 98-95 win over Sacramento, via ESPN. "I think the beauty of our country lies in its democracy. I think if we ever lose the courage to be able to speak up for the things that we believe in, I think we really lose the value that our country stands for.
"It's important that we have our opinions. It's important that we stand up for what we believe in and we all don't have to agree with it, and it's completely fine. That's what makes this a beautiful country."
Bryant also said the issue he was supporting went beyond race.
"I think it would be a serious disservice to limit this to a race issue. It's a justice issue," he said. "You're kind of seeing a tipping point right now, in terms of social issues. It's become now at the forefront right now as opposed to being a local issue. It's really been something that has carried over and spilled into the mainstream, so when you turn on the TV and you watch the news or you follow things on social media, you don't just see African-Americans out there protesting.
"It's become a thing where people are really standing up for their rights and really questioning the justice system and questioning the process of the legal system and those who have authority -- and whether or not they're abusing authority and what's the threshold to use deadly force and so forth and so on. But that's what our nation is founded on, man. We have the ability to question these things in a peaceful fashion. That's what makes us a great country. We have the ability to voice up, we have the platform to speak up and we have the platform to affect change."
All of Bryant's teammates wore the "I Can't Breathe" shirts, with the exception of Robert Sacre.