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Former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has joined a growing number of athletes to speak out after the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers.
Coach K, who retired after Duke’s loss to North Carolina in the 2022 Final Four in New Orleans, took aim at politicians on Thursday and said they should be “ashamed” of a SiriusXM town hall.
Mike Krzyzewski, former Duke Blue Devils head coach, tapes an episode of his SiriusXM show during a SiriusXM Town Hall With Coach K event at Cameron Indoor Stadium on June 2, 2022 in Durham, NC (Grant Halverson/Getty Images for SiriusXM ).
“I don’t understand why we are sitting on two sides of an aisle,” Krzyzewski said on Thursday.
“I don’t understand why we don’t sit together. And the people who are elected to any party or independent do not understand that their first and foremost responsibility is to serve the people.
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“That is your job. It’s not about power,” he continued. “It’s about serving the people. And people of all races. All nationalities. They need to be served. Whether you are Republican, Democrat or Independent, that is your responsibility.”
Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski watches before Game 2 of a first round playoff game of the NBA Eastern Conference at TD Garden in Boston April 20, 2022. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Coach K then turned to the gun issue, questioning whether anyone needs a semi-automatic gun and criticizing politicians on both sides of the aisle for not responding to gun legislation.
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“What the hell are we doing? You know, where we don’t take care of our people,” Krzyzewski said. “And it can get into the guns. For example, do you need an automatic weapon? You must be kidding me. You must be kidding me. It is disgusting.
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“So that we can see these children being killed, members of our African American community are being killed in a grocery store, members of our Jewish community are being killed in a synagogue. Come on. That’s not right… It’s amazingly wrong. And you should be ashamed of being in a position of power.”
Mike Krzyzewski, retired Duke Blue Devils coach, tapes an episode of his SiriusXM show with host Chris Spatola during a SiriusXM Town Hall With Coach K event at Cameron Indoor Stadium on June 2, 2022 in Durham, NC (Grant Halverson/ Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Krzyzewski said he was piggybacking on comments made by Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr after the Texas shooting.
Before the end of Game 4 between the Warriors and Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, Kerr used a press conference to urge politicians to act in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.
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“When do we do what?!” cried Kerr. “I’m so tired of standing up here and offering my condolences to the devastated families out there… I’m sick of the moments of silence. Enough!”
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“Right now there are 50 senators who are refusing to vote on HR-8 [Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021], which is a background check rule passed by the House a few years ago. It’s been sitting there for two years,” Kerr said. “There’s a reason they won’t vote on this to stay in power.”