Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri is calling for racial equality in his first interview about a confrontation with an Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy at the 2019 NBA finals.
The Raptors had just won their first NBA Championship title at the Oracle Arena in Oakland and Ujiri was making his way to the court to celebrate with the team when Deputy Alan Strickland, who was working as arena security at the game, stopped him.
Strickland told him to "Back the f-k up," and shoved him multiple times.
Body camera footage captured the confrontation and shows that only after Ujiri was shoved and tried to show Strickland his credentials does he push Strickland.
"You don't just go buy a championship in Walmart or something. It's something you’re trying so hard to do and you’re trying to figure out, 'How do I go and celebrate with my guys?' And now you get this confrontation, and it confuses you," Ujiri said in an interview with "Good Morning America."
"Honestly I was confused, taken aback and you don’t even know how to react."
While Ujiri eventually made it onto the court, the incident did not end there. Eight months later Strickland sued Ujiri for damages, claiming Ujiri had hit him multiple times, causing injuries.
Ujiri filed a countersuit which caused the body camera footage to become public in August 2020, which he said was vindicating.
"People said you punched a policeman, you hit his jaw, you broke his jaw and all kinds of things, you begin to doubt yourself. As time goes on, you begin to actually wonder what really happened," he said.
While both lawsuits have since been dropped, Ujiri said he feels compelled to use his privilege to speak out about racial equality.
"It's worse that happened to other people, right? George Floyd -- I lost a moment, people have lost their lives. I say it as humble as I can, maybe the privilege or the job that I have to fight this. They’re wrongly accused, there’s no bodycam, nobody sees what happens, and they’re incarcerated or they are accused or charged. We have to fight for them."
Ujiri told GMA he is moving forward from the incident.
"I want people to really think about humanity and who we are as human beings," he said. "It’s really, really important that we treat each other well."
Related
