Steve Kerr’s heartbreaking speech on the Texas school massacre: ‘When are we going to do anything!’

This Tuesday afternoon Golden State was preparing in Dallas to play the fourth point of the Conference final against the Mavericksa match that could define that same night the champion of the West and the first finalist of the 2021/22 season of the NBA. the warriors they came with a 3-0 lead and wanted to secure the series before returning to San Francisco. However, in the run-up to such an important match, all of that was left aside for Steve Kerrwho once again He showed that he is much more than just one of the best coaches in the NBA.

It is that in the middle of a press conference before the game, he surprised the journalists present, he left basketball aside for a few minutes and starred in a heartbreaking and forceful speech that went viral on social networks, made headlines around the world and is certainly worth listening to. It all happened after the information was known that 19 students and 2 teachers were murdered that same afternoon in a Texas elementary school, after a shooter entered the establishment armed with at least two firearms.

​”I’m not going to talk about basketball. Nothing has happened with our team in the last six hours. Let’s start the same way tonight. Any basketball question doesn’t matter.” the coach advanced, before beginning his release. “Since we got out of training, 14 kids have been killed 400 miles from here. And one teacher,” Kerr said, referring

He continued, “In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly black men murdered in a supermarket in Buffalo, we’ve had Asian churchgoers murdered in Southern California. Now we have children murdered at school. When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I am so tired of offering condolences to the devastated families out there. I am so tired. Excuse me. I am sorry. I’m tired of the minutes of silence.”


The moment of Kerr’s speech

Along the same lines, he noted: “There are 50 senators right now who refuse to vote on HR8, which is a background check bill that the House passed a couple of years ago. and it’s been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote for him: to stay in power.”

The initiative, known as HR8, was approved by the House of Representatives in 2021, but continues to be held in the upper house of Congress.

“So I ask you, Mitch McConnell (Senate Republican Leader), I ask all of you Senators who refuse to do anything about violence, school shootings and grocery store shootings. I ask you:Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our parishioners? Because that’s what it looks like,” he added, visibly affected.

The moment of Kerr's speech

The moment of Kerr’s speech

And he completed: “We can not become insensitive to this. We can not sit here and just read about this and say, well, let’s have a moment of silence, yes. ‘Go Dubs. Come on, Mavs, let’s go. That’s what we’re going to do. Let’s go play a basketball game.”

“Fifty senators in Washington are holding us hostage. Do you realize that 90% of Americans, regardless of political party, want background checks, universal background checks? 90% of us. We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want.”

They won’t vote for him because they want to hold on to their own power. It’s pathetic! I’ve had enough!”, he closed before getting up and leaving the room. Kerr, who is one of the most respected people in the NBA environment, was also the victim of a similar tragedy. On January 18, 1984, Malcolm Kerr, his father and university professor specializing in the Middle East and the Arab world, he was killed by armed men while he was rector of the American University of Beirut.

Two members of a radical Islamic group shot him twice in the head. Kerr himself told it in the documentary The Last Dance: “I received a phone call in the middle of the night from a family friend. My phone rang in my bedroom at three o’clock in the morning, so I knew something was up. Basketball was the only thing I could do to distract myself from what happened. So I went to train the next day. I didn’t know what else to do.”

the full speech

I’m not going to talk about basketball. Nothing has happened with our team in the last six hours. Let’s start the same way tonight. Any basketball question doesn’t matter.

Since we got out of training, 14 kids have been killed 400 miles from here. And a teacher. In the last 10 days, we’ve had elderly Black men killed in a supermarket in Buffalo, we’ve had Asian churchgoers killed in Southern California. Now we have children murdered at school.

When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I am so tired of coming up here and offering condolences to the devastated families out there. I am so tired. Excuse me. I am sorry. I’m tired of the minutes of silence. Enough!

There are 50 senators right now who are refusing to vote on HR8, which is a background check bill that the House passed a couple of years ago and has been sitting there for two years. And there’s a reason they won’t vote for him: to stay in power.

So I’m asking you, Mitch McConnell, I’m asking all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence, the school shootings and the supermarket shootings. I ask you: Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our parishioners? Because that’s what it looks like. It’s what we do every week.

So I’m fed up. I’ve had enough. Let’s play the game tonight. But I want every person here, every person listening to this, to think of their own child or grandchild, or mother or father, sister, brother. How would you feel if this happened to you today?

We cannot become insensitive to this. We can’t sit here and just read about this and say, well, let’s have a moment of silence, yeah. ‘Go Dubs. Come on, Mavs, let’s go. That’s what we’re going to do. We are going to play a basketball game.

Fifty senators in Washington are holding us hostage. Do you realize that 90 percent of Americans, regardless of political party, want background checks, universal background checks? Ninety percent of us. We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington who refuse to even put it to a vote, despite what we, the American people, want.

They won’t vote for him because they want to hold on to their own power. It’s pathetic! I’ve had enough!

Doncic also spoke of the shooting

Luka Doncic, Dallas figure, showed his sadness and pain for the shooting in which at least 19 children were killed in a Texas school. “I don’t think anything could be worse. It’s a disaster. I think that shouldn’t happen anywhere,” Doncic said, noting that he felt “very sorry” for this tragedy.

In the match, a minute’s silence was finally observed before the start of the game.

Loss to Dallas

The Mavericks saved their first elimination game on Tuesday and made it 1-3 in the West final against Golden State. It was a 119-109 victory thanks to a collective exhibition of triples and a Luka Doncic who was only one assist away from the triple-double.

The Warriors suffered a rain of triples from the Mavericks (a fantastic 20-43) and, despite the fact that it also rained inside the stadium, something that caused leaks and forced the start of the third quarter to be delayed, the water did not complicate a spectacular Doncic, who finished the match with 30 points (10-26 from the field), 14 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Dallas dazzled in the first three quarters and started the last with a +29 that seemed definitive, but the second unit of the Warriors got to 8 points and Doncic had to give one more push to close the victory.

Stephen Curry (20 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists) was the best for the Warriors who were a disappointing 10-for-28 from 3-point range.

The Western final now returns to San Francisco, where the fifth game will be played on Thursday and where the Mavericks will seek to maintain the level shown this part to achiever what no one has done before in the NBA: come back from 3-0 down in the playoffs (146-0 in history for teams that won the first three games).

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Steve Kerr’s heartbreaking speech on the Texas school massacre: ‘When are we going to do anything!’