'We are all united in our commitment'
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive addressed a small crowd inside Golden1 cheap authentic nfl jerseys Center after the team's delayed game Thursday against the Atlanta Hawks, as protests took place around Sacramento in the wake of the weekend police shooting of an unarmed black man.
Protesters holding signs with messages such as "Shut it down" converged arm-in-arm outside the Kings' home arena before the game to demonstrate Sunday's fatal shooting of 22-year-old Stephon Clark.
Ranadive, surrounded by Kings players on the court, expressed sympathies to Clark's family and recognized the franchise's role as a community leader.
"We are so very sorry for your loss,'' Ranadive said. "We at the Kings recognize people's abilities to protest peacefully, and we respect that. We here at the Kings realize that we have a big platform. It's a privilege, but it's also a responsibility. It's a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we stand here before you, old, young, black, white, brown, and we are all united in our commitment.
"We recognize that it is not just business as usual, and we are going to work really hard to bring everybody together to make the world a better place, starting in our own community. We are going to work really hard to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening again.''
The protest outside of the Golden1 Center delayed the game for about 20 minutes. Dozens of police attempted to clear entrances, where protesters formed a human chain blocking fans trying to attend the game and surrounded main entrances to the arena, before spectators eventually began to trickle in. cheap nfl jerseys from china There was shouting but no apparent violence as frustrated fans waited outside.
An estimated crowd of fewer than 2,000 made it into the 17,600-seat Golden1 Center before police decided to not allow anyone else to enter. Several of those who did get in were allowed to move down into the lower bowl of the arena, leaving the upper deck empty.
