Bradley Beal was one of hundreds of professional athletes to weigh in on social media last week after the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile became national stories. But Beal’s use of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” led some fans to take issue with his message, in turn leading to an appearance on ESPN by the Wizards shooting guard, who explained his motivation.
“I was watching the news [Thursday night], and just in complete awe and shock of the kind of society and world that we live in,” Beal told Lindsay Czarniak. “And when I posted Black Lives Matter, I think people took offense to it. I think, for one, they got offended because they automatically assumed that I believe that no other race matters or that no one else’s life matters. That’s incorrect.”
Beal said you can’t “associate one lone person with a movement,” referring to the gunman who killed five law enforcement officers in Dallas, and then made the rather obvious point that “I don’t support cops being killed; I don’t support black innocent people being killed.” And he then explained at great length why he decided to wade into these issues.
“I’m a professional athlete, and I felt like this was a great opportunity, this was a great moment for me to use my platform to speak out on an issue that some may be afraid to speak out on,” Beal said. “Regardless of what abuse I may receive or what criticism or what negativity or what disagreement I may receive from it, it’s still an issue in society and it still needs to be brought to light.
“And I figured this was a perfect opportunity for me — as a young black African American in this world — to be able to stand, and stand for something that our society needs to come together on, regardless of race, regardless if you’re a cop or not a cop. It doesn’t matter. The issue at hand is our system. And we need answers. We’ve marched. People have protested. People have tweeted. People have reached out to local officials. At the end of the day, it’s love that we all need, it’s each other, it’s equality. Whether it’s holding a meeting with police officers or local officials, whatever it takes to be able to put the issues on the table and figure out a means to come together and dissolve all this madness so that we can one day raise our children to be successful human beings.”
I can’t say I know Beal well, but he doesn’t have a reputation of being among Washington’s chattiest or most socially active athletes, so hearing him say these things on ESPN felt at least a bit surprising. Beal praised Carmelo Anthony’s recent call to action for other athletes, and said athletes need to get into communities more, reaching out to their home towns and meeting with local officials to help publicize issues in their communities that need addressing.
Athletes need to do this, Beal said, “so that people are noticing how serious this is becoming, and knowing how serious we are.”
Beal was also asked what he will do next now that he’s signaled his interest in public policy; “whatever it takes,” he said.
Beal was raised right
Beal 
