Jared Kushner, a White House adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law, said Thursday NBA players are in a “fortunate” position to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Wisconsin without worrying about work.
“Look I think the NBA players very fortunate that they’re in the financial position to take a night off from work without having consequences to themselves financially. So they have that luxury, which is great,” Mr. Kushner said on CNBC’s ’Squawk Box.’ “I think with the NBA there’s a lot of activism and I think they put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that’s going to solve the problem.”
Mr. Kushner touted the criminal justice reform legislation passed during the Trump administration as proof of the president’s commitment to working on racial issues.
“The NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” says White House senior advisor Jared Kushner on the NBA player boycotts last night. pic.twitter.com/nHlRBNIzaf
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) August 27, 2020
The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their own playoff game Wednesday night and six other NBA teams have decided not to play in protest of the Blake shooting and larger Black Lives Matter movement. In addition, some games in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the WNBA are being canceled.
Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by Kenosha Police Department Officer Rusten Sheskey, who is White.
His kids were reportedly in the car at the time. His lawyer said Mr. Blake has been paralyzed from the waist down but it’s unclear if the condition is permanent.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Wednesday that Mr. Blake had a knife in the car.
The incident has reignited national attention to protests against excessive use of force from police and racial inequality that broke out earlier in May after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, both black, died in encounters with police.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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