While one segment of America advocates for violence against journalists, innocent bystanders and Jewish senior citizens within the walls of a synagogue, another segment weeps and pleads for sanity and unity.
In the wake of a week of violence, both intended and actual, Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Sunday reiterated his firm commitment to the latter group.
“It’s just devastating,” he said. “I just expect it now, and that’s the sad thing.”
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Eleven people, all but two of whom were senior citizens, were killed Saturday when a man walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire. This came three days after a man walked into a supermarket in Kentucky, targeted two black people and opened fire.
Those casualties came shortly after 13 pipe bombs were sent to various Democratic politicians and supporters, with an avowed supporter of President Donald Trump being arrested and accused.
“That’s where we’ve gotten as a country,” Kerr said. “We’re broken right now. So nothing surprises us anymore; nothing surprises me anymore. There’s shootings at schools, at churches, synagogues, malls, movie theaters.
“We need our leaders to step up and unite the country with the appropriate words, the appropriate actions. And we’re not getting that right now. It’s frustrating. I don’t know what else to say.”
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Kerr has spoken out on these issues before, including a one-on-one conversation available on the MyTeams by NBC Sports app. His father, Malcolm, a university president, was assassinated by multiple gunmen in Beirut in 1984. That tragedy placed the issue of gun safety forever in Steve Kerr's heart.
“Nobody in this country should have a semiautomatic weapon of war,” Kerr said Sunday. “That’s my personal belief. So I’m going to vote for every candidate that’s willing to stand up to the NRA and say, ‘You know what? This is insane. We’re murdering each other every day. We have to get rid of bump stocks, we have to get rid of high-capacity magazines, we have to get rid of automatic weapons. We just do. Other countries don’t go through this.' ”