CHICAGO (Reuters) - Basketball legend Michael Jordan spoke out on police violence on Monday and announced two $1 million grants, to civil rights group NAACP's Legal Defense Fund and to a group that works on improving police relations with communities.
"I can no longer stay silent," Jordan wrote in a statement sent to the media. The retired sports star and business magnate is known for his reticence to address social issues, though he has made political donations in the past.
"As a proud American, a father who lost his own dad in a senseless act of violence, and a black man, I have been deeply troubled by the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement and angered by the cowardly and hateful targeting and killing of police officers," Jordan, 53, wrote.