Tiger Woods: Protests Can Make Points ‘Without Burning Neighborhoods We Live In’

June 2nd, 2020 2:49 PM

It’s usually easy to discount celebrities’ and sports stars' takes on current events. Most are reflexively lefty or uninformed. (Or both. There is some correlation there.) But once in a great while, someone famous says something thoughtful. 

So the statement published June 1 on Tiger Woods’s Twitter account is worth noting. Woods, arguably the greatest golfer of all time, grew up in Los Angeles in a mixed race family. His African-American father was an army officer and decorated combat veteran. 

In the tweet, Woods mourned George Floyd and said that police use of force in Floyd’s death “clearly crossed” the line. But the current Masters champion also stressed his “utmost respect” for law enforcement and made it clear he abhorred the lawlessness of the last week. “I remember the [1992] LA Riots,” he said. “We can make our points without burning and looting the very neighborhoods we live in.”

A voice that condemns the George Floyd killing and the violent looting while showing respect for police and hoping for a “safer, unified society,” sounds exactly like what we need now.