Hornets’ Nic Batum on joining protests: If you have a platform, you must be an advocate
Charlotte Hornets forward Nicolas Batum said he and his wife joined an uptown Charlotte protest for their 4-year-old son.
“I just want to make sure I can be part of the solution — for my son (Ayden) later, so he doesn’t have to face it,” Batum said Wednesday. “Or if he faces it, he has the right approach to fighting it.”
Batum and his wife, Aurelie, joined thousands in a peaceful march in uptown June 2 to protest racism following the death of George Floyd. Floyd, who is black, died when a white policeman in Minneapolis kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded he couldn’t breathe.
Batum’s teammates Terry Rozier and Jalen McDaniels were also part of the march, as were several Hornets staff members. Team owner Michael Jordan, the only African American majority owner of an NBA team, along with his Jordan Brand branch of Nike, has pledged $100 million over the next 10 years to aid social justice programs.
Batum said he didn’t personally encounter conflicts with police while growing up in France, but he certainly has seen racism first-hand. Batum recalls being called a “monkey” as a teenage basketball player and having bananas thrown at his team.
Batum, 31, said he last participated in any sort of protest when he was 16 back in Europe.
“There was violence (at some protests) and maybe you can be scared of it. You never know what can happen. But you take the risk,” Batum said.
“My wife is white, I’m black and my father is from Cameroon. It doesn’t matter: She is disgusted by what is going on, as well. We felt like we had to go and show support to the cause.”
While there was some violence in confrontations between police and protesters later that night, Batum said the afternoon march was nothing but positive.
“It was beautiful: White, Latinos, Asians, young, old” all marching together, Batum said. “You had everything at that protest. And it went really well.”
Batum said anyone with a platform should be advocating for peaceful change to end racism and brutality against people of color.
“I have a four-year-old son who is going to school. He’s mixed. He’s not really white, he’s dark-skinned, too,” Batum said. “I don’t want him to” suffer through prejudice.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
