Editor’s Note: The following story contains details about gun violence, and may be distressing for some readers.
After his team opened the NBA season with a win, the last thing Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown wanted to talk about was basketball.
Instead, a visibly emotional Brown opened up to reporters about the latest mass shooting in the United States where at least 16 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded at a bar and bowling alley in Lewingston, Maine on Wednesday.
“I’m not that smart, but I know we as a country got to do something,” Brown started.
At points through the press conference, Brown seemed to be at a loss for words. But one thing he did know for sure: Something needs to change.
“It’s sad that we sit here and watch this happen time, after time, after time, after time, and nobody does anything about it,” Brown said. “It’s a sad day.”
Brown is far from the first coach to take issue with gun violence in the country, as last year Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr — whom Brown was once an assistant coach under — called out the U.S. Senate after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“When are we going to do something? I’m tired. I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there,” Kerr said last year. “I’m so tired. Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”
One year later, and now Brown is the one pleading for change.
“Until we decide to do something about it, the powers that be, this is going to keep happening,” Brown said. “Our kids aren’t going to be able to enjoy what the United States is about because we don’t know how to fix a problem that is right in front of us.”
And that problem was why Brown could care less about his team’s win, and is instead worried about the future of his country.
“I don’t even want to talk basketball,” Brown said. “We played a game, it was fun, obviously we won.
“If we can’t do anything to fix this, it’s over. It’s over for our country for this to happen time after time.”
