Numerous NFL players have joined Colin Kaepernick in kneeling during the national anthem in protest against racism and police brutality against black people. As the NBA season steadily approaches, many are wondering if they too will join Kaepernick in solidarity. Golden State Warriors’ new star Kevin Durant along with Nas, who has been talking about these issues for years, both joined Bill Simmons on “Any Given Wednesdays.” Simmons asked Nas what responsibility does he think athletes and entertainers have in situations like this.
“People, it doesn’t matter what you do, when you see wrong, speak on it,” said Nas. “It doesn’t matter, it’s great to see athletes, musicians, whoever, if you see wrongdoing, speak on it, get the dialogue going. The people can change the world. We get up and unify, we can change the world.”
Simmons asked Durant if he thinks players in the NBA will kneel as well or do another symbolic gesture.
“I see guys standing up and fighting for what they believe in; I don’t know in what capacity, whether it’s during the national anthem, I don’t know what exactly but I see guys standing up,” said Durant. “I think we’re in an era now where it’s really cool to stand up for what you believe in and fight for our culture. However you do it it’s gonna be guys that’s gonna go out there and stand with Kaepernick, or kneel with Kaepernick I guess, but show support for what he’s doing.”
Simmons mentioned that the message often gets lost in this type of situation. Many of the headlines have been about who is kneeling with Kaepernick or who doesn’t agree with him. There have also been people leaking what they’re going to do, as was the situation with Doug Baldwin and the Seattle Seahawks. There’s also people who say Kaepernick is disrespecting the military – which he denies – and they ignore the point of his protest entirely.
“Definitely, every time somebody stands up for good, you take that risk of people not knowing what you’re doing,” said Nas. People are threatened, people are scared; your message you have to keep repeating it over and over and over, because you get the fake ones that take your thing and turn it into something else. They don’t really believe what you believe, it leaves your hands.”
“So I really admire him because he didn’t care. Creating awareness, police brutality, police murder, injustice, that’s what it’s all about,” Nas continued. “Even if his career would end, he as a man, he could look at himself in the mirror and know that he tried, because he cares about justice for people, you gotta respect that.”
As for the Rio Olympics, Durant says they didn’t feel like it was the right time to do anything.
