Harold Varner III is one of the first PGA Tour players to speak out after the killing of George Floyd.
One week after Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, Varner — one of the few black golfers on Tour — said he finally gathered his thoughts enough to pen a statement late Monday.
“Here’s the obvious: George Floyd should still be alive. Absolutely. No doubt. End of story. This was a senseless killing — a murder — and, to me, it was evil incarnate,” Varner wrote.
After Floyd was killed May 25 and protests have occurred across the nation for over a week, the PGA Tour has not released a statement. The LGPA released a statement Monday.
The PGA Tour and Major League Baseball are the only two major professional sports leagues yet to release a statement on the killing of George Floyd and resulting protests.
Derek Chauvin, the officer who was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes before Floyd died was fired from the police department along with three other officers who were at the scene on May 26. On Friday, Chauvin, who had 18 complaints filed against him during his time with the Minneapolis Police Department, was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. The other three officers have not been charged.
In his statement posted Monday, Varner encouraged readers to fight against single-minded thinking when it comes to topics of social injustice and the protests resulting from Floyd’s death.
“You can be against a cop savagely killing a man and also have the perspective to say that burning businesses and police stations is wrong,” Varner wrote. “You may say one is more or less severe than the other, but there again we must allow ourselves to go beyond this one or the other mentality. Otherwise, we get stuck.”
A minority of protesters demanding justice for Floyd and changes to the justice system have resorted to violence including arson, vandalism and looting in several major cities. Varner made it clear in his statement he does not encourage the violence perpetrated by the few, but encourages justice for all.
“Seeing justice for George Floyd turn into destruction and death of business owned by African-Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, and other ethnicities is disgusting,” Varner wrote. “I will always be behind all African-Americans who are subjected to racism. I will also be behind other ethnicities in the same way. But I will never support and aggressive reactions, especially against those who poured everything into opening this restaurant or that shop.
“Sometimes life is not simple and things don’t make sense. How can we call ourselves the greatest country on earth and our standards fall to senseless killing? That’s a tough and important question. But I still probably say we aren’t as fractured as it seems.”
Many professional golfers like Billy Horschel and Zach Johnson retweeted Varner’s statement. On Tuesday, many Tour players followed Varner’s lead and posted #BlackLivesMatter messages and contributing to Blackout Tuesday, a social media campaign aimed at amplifying voices that discuss social justice.
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Tiger Woods released a statement regarding Floyd’s death and resulting protests after Varner’s statement Monday night. Some have criticized Woods’ statement as not being specific enough. In the statement, Woods expressed his condolences to Floyd’s family and said although police “train diligently to understand how, when and where to use force,” the instance with Floyd “crossed the line.” Woods also spoke against looting and violence.
LPGA golfer Cheyenne Woods also spoke out regarding Floyd’s death to Golfweek. As a biracial woman in America, Cheyenne said she feels the responsibility of using her platform in golf.
“I think as an athlete or a public figure, a lot of times you almost get forced to feel like you have to live middle-of-the-road and not go one way or another or say anything too extreme,” she said. “But there comes a point where you have to have a voice and you have to speak on what matters to you because it does make a difference in people’s lives and can influence and spread a lot of positivity and change. … You see athletes like LeBron James and Steph Curry speak out about these issues and it’s very powerful to see somebody in that light have such a strong stance on something that matters to them. I think they are great role models in that sense of just truly having a voice.”
