ESPN analyst Jalen Rose joined a growing list of prominent people weighing in amid national anger and frustration that none of the three police officers were charged on Breonna Taylor’s murder.
“It’d also be a great day to arrest the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor,” Jalen Rose said Wednesday right before an ESPN commercial break during Game 4 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals.
In March, Breonna Taylor was shot to death when officers in Louisville, Kentucky, broke down her apartment door while executing a search warrant. A grand jury on Wednesday opted to indict one officer on first-degree wanton endangerment charges, which do not aim to hold him responsible for Taylor’s death.
Rose had said he wanted people to know that Black people are hurting during ESPN’s pregame show.
“When Kyle Rittenhouse, in Milwaukee as a 17-year-old, kills two people, yet three cops aren’t directly charged with killing Breonna Taylor … it shows you how they feel about Black lives in America,” Rose said, referring to the teen accused in a shooting in Wisconsin over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“So, we are starting a game … It’s 400 years of slavery to 0,” Rose said during the pregame show. “We know we not (going to) win, but you still gotta continue to move the ball forward and put people behind you in a position to be successful, and that’s what we’re here to do today.”
“That’s what the NBA players are doing today, and that’s why I applaud them because while they’re out, they’re performing with heavy hearts trying to win a championship. I understand that this is really painful, to show up to work and still try to entertain.”
On Wednesday evening, protests erupted across the country as people expressed disappointment in the grand jury’s decision in the Taylor case.