RIP George Floyd.

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George Floyd #5, (left) with other teammates and his coach, George Walker.​

Floyd, 46, died Monday in the city he moved to for a better life, his last moments caught on video. While being arrested, Floyd was held down by a Minneapolis police officer's knee. The video shows Floyd pleading that he is in pain and can't breathe. Then, his eyes shut and the pleas stop. He was pronounced dead shortly after. Floyd is a father to two daughters, the youngest is 6. That officer, Derek Chauvin, was arrested on Friday and faces charges of third-degree murder and manslaughter, according to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

 

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Unrest mounts across multiple US cities over the death of George Floyd

Pain and anger over the death of George Floyd spilled over into multiple cities across the country hours after the former Minneapolis officer seen in video with his knee on Floyd's neck was arrested and charged with murder. Demonstrators funneled their anguish in cities like Atlanta, New York and Washington into chants, signs and outbreaks of violence, smashing windows and setting vehicles ablaze. In Minneapolis, roughly 1,000 people marched peacefully along the city's major freeway Interstate 35, hours after a curfew went into effect. One black man held a sign that read, "Am I next?"

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San Francisco 49ers to donate $1 million to groups 'creating change' after George Floyd's death
Saturday's announcement marks the second such known donation by the 49ers organization in the past four years to social justice causes. In September 2016, the Niners matched the $1 million donation made by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to Bay Area charities.

Roger Goodell says 'there remains an urgent need for action' in wake of recent 'tragic events'
"The NFL family is greatly saddened by the tragic events across our country," Goodell said in his statement. "The protesters' reactions to these incidents reflect the pain, anger and frustration that so many of us feel."

 

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College Football Hall of Fame damaged by protesters
The Hall of Fame, which is located near the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, was near the epicenter of demonstrations over George Floyd's death. Floyd, who was black, died while in police custody in Minneapolis earlier this week.

 

[The Question]

Remember when sports organizations were about sports, instead of Communism?

 

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LeVelle Moton, NCCU men's basketball coach, bothered by silence of white Power 5 coaches​

As the country continues to face the aftermath of George Floyd's death, North Carolina Central men's basketball head coach LeVelle Moton said the silence of white Power 5 basketball and football coaches is alarming. On ESPN Radio nearly a week after Floyd died in polic Sunday Sue custody on Memorial Day in Minneapolis, Moton said white Power 5 coaches in both sports tend to care about African Americans when they're on their teams but don't offer the same concern when African Americans die at the hands of law enforcement officers. "The reality is a lot of these coaches have been able to create generational wealth," Moton said Sunday on ESPN Radio's Sunday Morning. "Their grandkids' kids are gonna be able to live a prosperous life because athletes who were the complexion of George Floyd were able to run a football, throw a football, shoot a basketball or whatever have you, so they have been able to benefit from athletes that look like George Floyd and many more. But whenever people [who are] the complexion of George Floyd are killed, assassinated, murdered in the street in broad daylight, they're silent."

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Michael Jordan 'pained and plain angry' over George Floyd's death, joins call for change​

Charlotte Hornets owner and Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan joined the chorus of athletes, coaches and executives expressing their grief and outrage over the death of George Floyd. "I am deeply saddened, truly pained and plain angry," Jordan said in a statement Sunday. "... I stand with those who are calling out the ingrained racism and violence toward people of color in our country. We have had enough." Floyd, a black man, died last week in Minneapolis after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Floyd's death has sparked protests in cities across the United States.

"I don't have the answers, but our collective voices show strength and the inability to be divided by others," Jordan said. "We must listen to each other, show compassion and empathy and never turn our backs on senseless brutality. We need to continue peaceful expressions against injustice and demand accountability. Our unified voice needs to put pressure on our leaders to change our laws, or else we need to use our vote to create systemic change. Every one of us needs to be part of the solution, and we must work together to ensure justice for all."

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In internal memo, NBA's Adam Silver says racism, police brutality 'cannot be ignored'
Commissioner Adam Silver sent an internal memo to NBA office employees on Sunday, offering thoughts of frustration and sadness after watching the protests around the country over the weekend. Silver, in a memo obtained by ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, said his league shares "the outrage" and offered "sincere condolences to families and friends" of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Many NBA players took part in peaceful protests around the country, with some traveling great distances to do so. Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown led a peaceful march through Atlanta on Saturday night after driving 15 hours from Massachusetts to do so. Atlanta is about a 20-minute drive southeast of Brown's native Marietta, Georgia.

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Stephen Jackson 'embracing' new role as vocal leader after friend George Floyd's death

Knicks explain lack of public comment in email to MSG employees

 

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Tiger Woods speaks out on George Floyd death, urges peaceful protests
"I have always had the utmost respect for our law enforcement," Woods said. "They train so diligently to understand how, when and where to use force. This shocking tragedy clearly crossed that line."

 

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Independent autopsy and Minnesota officials say George Floyd's death was homicide
Experts hired by George Floyd's family and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner have concluded his death was a homicide, but they differ on what caused it.The independent autopsy says Floyd died of "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" when his neck and back were compressed by Minneapolis police officers during his arrest last week. The pressure cut off blood flow to his brain, that autopsy determined. But the medical examiner's office, in its report also released Monday, said that the cause of death is "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression." Cardiopulmonary arrest means Floyd's heart failed.The medical examiner made no mention of asphyxiation.

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Oklahoma State's Amen Ogbongbemiga tests positive for coronavirus after Tulsa protest
Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga said Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a protest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ogbongbemiga was one of 30 players to return to campus on Monday, the first phase of Oklahoma State athletes returning to campus in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. All of those players, as well as coaches and other staff members, were tested for the coronavirus, a source told ESPN. Per university protocol, which was developed by a school task force headed by OSU Center for Health Sciences president Dr. Kayse Shrum, Ogbongbemiga will be quarantined in separate on-campus housing. Ogbongbemiga will be retested Friday, a source said, and retested again at a later date.

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[steve samurai jack]

BLACK LIVES MATTER
I can't breathe​

 

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Seahawks Pete Carroll: We all owe a lot to Colin Kaepernick
Pete Carroll, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich praise Kaepernick for taking stand against police brutality

Kaepernick's decision was just one portion of an hourlong podcast in which the trio of accomplished white coaches said they all feel a responsibility to do more, both in terms of how they communicate different messages and how they carry out those messages to their teams and the people around them.

 

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Cowboys QB Dak Prescott pledges $1 million to improve police training
"As our communities take action, protesting and fighting for the justice of George and every black life, I am with you!" Prescott wrote.

While expressing respect for police, Prescott also asked them to change.
"I have the utmost respect for those of you with a passion for protecting and serving your communities," Prescott wrote. "When you chose to wear the badge of a police officer, you pledged to PROTECT life and property through the enforcement of our laws and regulations. How can you claim to uphold the law when those within your ranks don't abide by it? You need to hold your own accountable. Each of you are as guilty as the men who stood beside Derek Chauvin if you do not stand up against the systemic racism plaguing our police forces nationwide. TAKE ACTION!"

 

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‘He represented us’: George Floyd’s lasting impact as a two-sport athlete in Houston
Floyd’s death has hit particularly hard for those with roots in the Third Ward

Floyd’s death last week at the hands of police in Minneapolis, where Floyd had moved several years ago, has hit particularly hard for those with roots in the Third Ward. The protests, which began last week in Minneapolis and have now gone global, are indicators of just how horrifying the footage was of the Houston native pleading for his life while three officers sat on him, one with his knee pressed firmly on Floyd’s neck.

 

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WNBA's Brianna Turner on George Floyd's death
I don't want my family to be the next hashtag

For the past week, it has been hard for me to think of anything but George Floyd, the protests and the national conversation that many of us are having, but some are avoiding. How can you be a citizen of this country and not want to speak out? How can you witness what we've seen in the past week and not have anything to say? I think maybe people are afraid, and they don't want to say the "wrong thing." But if you're supporting humanity and equality, I don't get how you could say the wrong thing.

 

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Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson opens up on personal experiences with racism
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson did not want to talk about football during a video conference call with reporters Wednesday, saying "none of that matters" compared to "life and what the black community is going through right now." "When you think about the idea of Black Lives Matter, they do matter," Wilson said, speaking from his offseason home in Southern California. "The reality is that me as a black person, people are getting murdered on the street, people are getting shot down, and the understanding that it's not like that for every other race. It's like that in particular for the black community. I think about my stepson, I think about my daughter, I think about our new baby boy on the way, and it's staggering to watch these things happen right in front of our faces, so I have a heavy heart right now."

"Being black is a real thing in America," Wilson said. "It's a real thing in the sense of the history and the pain, even my own family personally." Wilson said his great-great grandparents were slaves and that he has always understood "that racism is real." He recalled how, while growing up in Richmond, Virginia, his father would warn him to not put his hands in his pockets when he stepped out of his car at gas stations.

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