September 24, 2020
(Reuters) – Colin Kaepernick headlined the list of individuals from the sporting world who spoke out on Wednesday after police officers were cleared of criminal charges in the death of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker killed in her Louisville apartment.
Two white policemen who fired into the apartment in March will not be prosecuted for Taylor’s death because their use of force was justified while a third was charged with endangering her neighbors, Kentucky’s attorney general said.
“The white supremacist institution of policing that stole Breonna Taylor’s life from us must be abolished for the safety and well being of our people,” former San Francisco quarterback Kaepernick tweeted along with an #AbolishThePolice hashtag.
Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, speaking after his team’s first workout since March, said it was “demoralizing” to learn about the news.
“It’s just so demoralizing. It’s so discouraging,” said Kerr. “I just keep thinking about the generation of American kids, of any color. Is this the world they will live in?
“There’s just so much violence, and it’s demoralizing when we can’t be accountable or hold anyone to account for it.”
Megan Rapinoe, who last year was named women’s soccer player of the year after leading the United States to a World Cup title, called the decision devastating.
“My heart is with the family of Breonna Taylor right now,” Rapinoe wrote on Twitter. “My god. This is devastating and unfortunately not surprising. Black and brown fox in this country deserve so much more.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Michael Perry)
