Nuggets Jamal Murray Says He Experienced Racial Profiling While Growing Up In Canada

DENVER (CBS4) - Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets has kept an eye on the George Floyd protests while he's been getting ready for the NBA season to resume and says several times he and his father, Roger, were pulled over or questioned by police while growing up in Ontario, Canada. Once when they were returning home from prep school in his hometown of Kitchener and they were pulled over, despite not going over the speed limit. The other time was when Jamal was in high school and they were walking home from practice.

"We just finished practice across the street and we were just going to go on a walk, just me and my dad at 9 o'clock at night," He explained. "'[Police Siren] can we search you guys?' Just me walking, just two cops came randomly trying to search us. My dad was like, 'No, you're not going to search us. Why do you want to search us?'

When the officers said they fit the description of a suspect, Murray's dad responded by asking if they were being questioned because the suspect was black?

"You could just see them hesitate where they weren't prepared for that question," Murray said. "The way that they poke you and they want to make you react a certain way so they can do what they want is just so wrong."

Murray has talked with Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and team President of Basketball Operations Tim Connelly on how he and his teammates can do their part to make a positive impact.

"When something as blatant as this happens, then you can't shut up. You can't shut up and dribble. You can't ignore it. You can't just let it happen ... it becomes frustrating. It becomes such a life changer for everybody and it really starts open up your eyes."