Canadian WNBA players Natalie Achonwa and Kia Nurse speak about racism and the killing of George Floyd.
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00:00Being silent is being complicit.
00:03Those are the words Minnesota Lynx Kayla Alexander
00:06shared on racism and George Floyd's death.
00:09Joining me now from All Raptors is Aaron Rose.
00:13Aaron, Kayla is just one of the many Canadian WNBA players
00:17that you've spoken to over the last week and a half.
00:20What have you learned from your conversations with them
00:23and how are they feeling during this time?
00:26I think the past few weeks have been tough for them.
00:30Not only are they not playing basketball
00:32because of the coronavirus,
00:34but they've seen the world react
00:36to the death of George Floyd.
00:38And from speaking to these women,
00:41they see it as a black man being killed by police brutality.
00:46And when they see that happen,
00:47they see their fathers, their husbands, their boyfriends,
00:52the black men in their community.
00:54And Natalie Ochanawa told me that keeps her up at night.
00:57She feels for the men in her life and she fears for them.
01:03And then I think what I've learned
01:04is that this is a serious problem,
01:07but I think there's some optimism
01:09that maybe these protests have made the world realize
01:15what's going on and enough is enough.
01:19And people can become allies
01:22and start to educate themselves on what's going on.
01:26And I think all three of these women told me
01:28that education is key.
01:31And it's a privilege that you can learn about racism
01:35rather than experience it.
01:37Kia Nurse told me that people need to learn
01:40to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
01:42And hopefully 2020 has taught people
01:45that they need to learn how to be uncomfortable
01:49and they need to use their voice to educate people,
01:51that they need to not be complicit.
01:53And when they hear racism in their community,
01:56they need to silence that and educate people
01:58on how to stop being racist,
02:00whether that means telling people to stop,
02:03whether that's your friends, your colleagues,
02:05your family members.
02:06It's important for everyone to speak up
02:08when there is racism in our communities.
02:11Absolutely, great advice from these women.
02:13Thank you so much for your insight on this, Aaron.
02:15I appreciate it.