Dwyane Wade On Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protests: 'It's Great'
(CBS) Bulls guard Dwyane Wade is one of the most socially active, aware and outspoken athletes in sports, and on Monday at media day, he expressed support for 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's protests against racial injustices that have been marked by Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem before football games.
In July, Wade stood alongside friends LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul at the ESPYs and spoke out against violence across all society.
A Chicago native, Wade wasn't sure how or if protests will play out across the NBA scene as preseason games get going soon, but he was in support of all who want to take a stand.
"I don't really have a pulse on what NBA players are doing when it comes to these things," Wade said. "As I said before, I think it's great. I'm one of the athletes who stood onstage at the ESPYs and asked athletes to use their voice, a call to action for athletes to stand up. I think it's great when you see an athlete use his voice for something that he believes in. The one thing that I'm thankful for is that I've been educated. I think Kaepernick educated a lot of us on things we didn't know, things we wasn't aware of. I think for me, things in this city that I've seen, we have a different kind of battle here in Chicago, a different focus. That's what my focus is on. My focus is on this city and what am I capable of doing to help our youth in this city in a bigger way. That's where my focus is. But what (Kaepernick) is doing is great because it's what he wants to do, it's what he believes in and he's using his voice for that cause."