Spurs coach Popovich calls for action in new video condemning ‘lynching’ of Floyd

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, in a video released by the team Saturday, called for reforms in response to the “lynching” of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In the video, Popovich said that in a “strange counterintuitive sort of way, the best teaching moment of this most recent tragedy I think was the look on the officer’s face,” saying it was vital for white Americans to see how “nonchalant” and “casual” Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin appeared as he pressed his knee against the back of Floyd’s neck.

“I don’t know, I think I’m just embarrassed as a white person, to know that that can happen, to actually watch a lynching,” Popovich continued. “It’s important that we as white people, because I think nothing’s going to happen, we have to do it. Black people have been shouldering this burden for 400 years. The only reason this nation has made the progress it has is because of the persistence and progress and patience of black people.”

“It’s got to be us that speak truth to power, that call it out no matter the consequences. We have to not let anything go. Our country is in trouble and the basic reason is race.”#SpursVoices pic.twitter.com/uTyOIzGnTg

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 6, 2020

“It’s got to be us, in my opinion, that speak truth to power, that call it out no matter what the consequences. We have to speak, we have to not let anything go,” Popovich said, comparing waiting for action to waiting for action on gun control. “What’s it going to take? Two more black people with knees in their necks? I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s easy for people to let things go because it doesn’t involve them.”

Popovich compared the situation to a neighborhood with a “dangerous corner” that people are content to ignore until a stop sign is erected after a child is killed.

“We got a lot of stop signs that need to go up quickly,” he said.

Popovich has previously condemned President Trump’s response to Floyd’s death and the national protests it spurred.

“If Trump had a brain, even if it was 99 percent cynical, he would come out and say something to unify people. But he doesn’t care about bringing people together. Even now. That’s how deranged he is,” Popovich told The Nation Last Week.