Royals say they ‘stand in solidarity and peaceful protest’ with black community
The Kansas City Royals released a statement Monday evening after a week of social unrest and protests around the region and across the nation reached a boiling point.
The racial tensions follow last week’s death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes on Memorial Day.
The incident was caught on multiple videos, the first of which went viral and sparked demonstrations, protests and in some cases riots and looting in American cities.
The Minneapolis Police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter and was fired along with three other officers.
“Words alone fail us,” The statement from the Royals reads. “There is no place in our world for the senseless acts of racial injustice that have tragically taken lives. No place in Kansas City, nor in any city. Not today, not ever.
“We humbly stand in solidarity and peaceful protest with the black community, both here and across America. We pledge to actively and intentionally use our voice for good. And to live by a standard that says we treat all of us the way each of us wants to be treated.
“The Kansas City Royals are committed to doing all we can, wherever we can, to help turn this moment into the sustained change we seek.”
Crowds of people assembled at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City to protest police brutality throughout the weekend. Mayor Quinton Lucas enacted an 8 p.m. curfew for the Plaza and other areas Sunday night.
The Kansas City Police Department announced via its Twitter account that on Saturday night alone, 85 arrests were made. Businesses on the Plaza sustained damage, officers were hit with frozen water bottles or rocks and two officers were hospitalized with injuries from being struck.
Police arrested more than 150 people over the weekend and used tear gas to try to disperse crowds.
This story was originally published June 1, 2020 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Royals say they ‘stand in solidarity and peaceful protest’ with black community."
