Los Angeles Lakers ace LeBron James had put a tweet to comment on the police shooting of a 16-year-old Black girl in Colombus, Ohio. The former MVP then proceeded to delete the tweet and he gave an explanation in a series of subsequent tweets.
The initial tweet posted by LeBron included the photo of officer Nicholas Reardon, the white police officer responsible for the shooting alongwith a caption that read “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY,” along with an hourglass emoji.
LeBron, after taking down the tweet, explained why he did so. He claimed that such tweets are being used to create more hate and demanded more accountability from the entire system.
“ANGER does any of us any good and that includes myself! Gathering all the facts and educating does though! My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail!,”
“I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY,” LeBron tweeted
The heartbreaking incident started with a 911 call to the police where a person complained of being physically threatened. Police were dispatched and summoned into the scene.
In the Body cam footage released by the Colombus Division of Police, the officer is seen to be warning Ma’Khia Bryant, who can be seen wildly swinging a knife at another female. As the person falls backwards, Bryant proceeds to take her knife to another female pinned against the car. The female who had fallen over was kicked by a man as well.
The officer then fires four shots which took Bryant to the ground. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
LeBron had reacted to the verdict of the Derek Chauvin trial as well
The police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant took place right after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter for the murder of George Floyd last year.
The Lakers star reacted to the result of the trial with a single word, “ACCOUNTABILITY”.
Moreover, Columbus, Ohio being only 125 miles away from LeBron’s hometown of Akron, hits it too close to home.
His Lakers teammate Anthony Davis admitted that they are still to address the verdict as a group.
“I think a lot of people in the world are happy with the verdict and just being able to give that family peace, [and] a peace of mind,” Davis said Wednesday.
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