There was a playoff basketball game in Dallas on Tuesday night, but hearts and minds were primarily elsewhere while the game was being played. Following the tragic shooting that took place at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas earlier in the day, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr delivered a powerful message during his pregame press conference.
“Since we left shoot-around, 14 children were killed, 400 miles from here. And a teacher,” Kerr said. “When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I am so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. I am so tired of the – I am sorry, I am tired of the moments of silence. Enough!” Kerr continued his message by calling out United States senators for their inaction.
“There’s a reason why they won’t vote on it,” Kerr said. “To hold on to power. So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings. I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week.”
After the game, Steve Kerr was asked about Steph Curry, who urged fans to watch Kerr’s pregame message with the same attentiveness they would watch Game 4 with. Following a Tweet he sent out regarding Kerr’s pregame message, Steph went up to his coach to acknowledge his appreciation.
“He gave me the head nod, gave me a good hand shake. It was unspoken, but I knew what he was expressing,” Kerr said of the moment he shared with Steph prior to the game. Steph was also asked about this embrace, and said, “I appreciate his leadership… For coach to come up here and say what he said – every word that he said was powerful, was meaningful. I accept that challenge to try to use my voice and platform to help hopefully make change. You could tell what it meant to him to come up in front of ya’ll and use this microphone to say what he said. So I appreciate his leadership on that.”
Both Steph Curry and Steve Kerr were rightfully shaken by what happened earlier in the day, but the superstar point guard is proud of his head coach for using his voice and platform to encourage change.
