Stephen Jackson Can No Longer Be Taken Seriously After Saying DeSean Jackson Is ‘Speaking the Truth’
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson stepped back into the spotlight on May 26, the day after George Floyd died. Floyd, a black man who had his neck kneeled on by a white Minneapolis police officer for nearly nine minutes, died as a result on May 25. Jackson has been speaking out on racial inequality ever since. His latest comments, however, have raised more than a few eyebrows.
Stephen Jackson and George Floyd were friends
Stephen Jackson spent 14 seasons in the NBA. Although he was never an NBA All-Star, he managed to carve out a very productive professional basketball career. Jackson played for eight teams in those 14 seasons. He finished his career by averaging 15.1 points per game. He hasn’t played since the 2013-14 season when he played in nine games with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Jackson woke up on the morning of May 26, the day after the death of George Floyd, and was back in the spotlight. Floyd was a personal friend of Jackson’s and a man Jackson called ‘Twin.’ He posted a heartfelt message and he said he vowed to not let his death ride.
“This is what I gotta wake up to, huh?” said Jackson through tears in the Instagram post. “This is what I gotta wake up to. Floyd was my brother, man. We called each other “Twin,” bruh. Everybody know me and Floyd called each other “Twin.” My brother was only out there in Minnesota, he was changing his life, he went to Minnesota, he was driving trucks. I just sent him two, three boxes of clothes. My boy was doing what he was supposed to do, man, and y’all go kill my brother, man. I’m on my way to Minnesota, man. Whatever I can do, can’t let this ride, dog.”
DeSean Jackson’s ‘appalling’ posts
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson recently shared a post on Instagram where he attributed a quote from Adolf Hitler, which was later determined it was not from Hitler via Snopes.com, that said white Jews “will blackmail America. (They) will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”
According to ESPN, Jackson also shared two other controversial social media posts that have since been deleted. On Saturday and on Monday he shared posts showing admiration for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center have identified as anti-Semitic. Those posts have since been deleted.
The Philadelphia Eagles issued a statement on the matter, saying “We have spoken with DeSean Jackson about his social media posts. Regardless of his intentions, the messages he shared were offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling. They have no place in our society, and are not condoned or supported in any way by the organization.” The NFL also released a statement and called Jackson’s actions “highly inappropriate, offensive and divisive.”
Stephen Jackson agrees with DeSean Jackson, then blasts Eagles
DeSean Jackson issued an apology saying he realized he unintentionally hurt the Jewish community by sharing posts falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler and praise for a political activist notorious for making anti-Semitic remarks, according to The New York Post. He continued by saying “Now, more than ever, we must work together to end discrimination of all types and against all people and communities.” He said his apology was more than words and it’s a promise to do better.
Meanwhile, Stephen Jackson went on to back DeSean Jackson and his posts. In a series of social media posts, Stephen Jackson said of DeSean Jackson “He’s speaking the truth. You know he don’t hate nobody. But he’s speaking the truth of the facts that he knows, and trying to educate others. But y’all don’t want us to educate ourselves. If this was talking about the black race, y’all ain’t saying nothing about it.”
Stephen Jackson went on. “You killing us, police killing us and treating us like s–t, racism at an all-time high, but none of you NFL owners spoke up on that,” he said. “And none of you teams spoke up on that.”
