What’s the deal with the NBA and human rights abuses in China?

Brut America

"Nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs, OK?"  Some American basketball players say that the NBA is complicit in human rights abuses in China. Here's why …

Transcript

00:00Let's be honest, nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs, okay?

00:02You bring it up because you really care.

00:04Of all the things that I care about, yes, it is below my line.

00:07It is below my line.

00:17Obviously, China uses money to buy silence.

00:30There's torture, forced labor is going on now, forced sterilizations.

00:38An independent tribunal has called the situation crimes against humanity and genocide, as have

00:42a number of governments.

00:44The Chinese government is essentially trying to make everybody the same, to eliminate the

00:48Uyghur culture in general.

00:50The Chinese government has been systematically oppressing the Uyghur Muslims, and they have

00:57been silenced.

00:58They don't have a voice to speak out.

01:24I think this is insulting also just to Uyghurs abroad.

01:27They were appalled.

01:28That someone could say something that was so callous.

01:36There's a lot of money in the Chinese market.

01:38NBA basketball is very popular.

01:41It is one of the most watched sports in the country.

01:48We love China.

01:49We love playing there.

01:50I know for both of us individually, we go there once or twice a year.

01:56They show us the most support and love.

02:26I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand.

02:38We apologize.

02:39We love China.

02:56My message to you is, free the Uyghurs.

03:08Stay strong, and keep asking the Chinese Communist Party, where is my father?

03:14Where is my mother?

03:16Where are my brothers and sisters?

03:18And where is my family?

03:27I think these sports leagues just have to allow their athletes to speak.

03:54We certainly are encouraging athletes to speak out.

03:56I think it's really essential to support the Uyghurs themselves who are doing this work abroad.

04:01They're, of course, not allowed to do any kind of hectivism in the region, in China today.

04:06I think, quite frankly, there hasn't been enough pressure from much of the global community.

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