Mavs' Justin Jackson on Injustice: 'Listen & Love'

For Dallas Mavericks forward Justin Jackson, eliminating stereotypes and simply treating everyone as human beings are just a few ways to bring about real change when it comes to police brutality and all racial injustices.

Protests over police brutality and racial injustices have swept the nation over the last few weeks since the senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Members of the Dallas Mavericks' organization recently joined some of these protests in Dallas, Justin Jackson being one of them. Jackson spoke on this topic recently via our Mavs Step Back Podcast, and what we all can do in order to bring real change going forward.

“I think it was very good," said Jackson of the event he attended. "The one that me and a couple of other guys went to – including Mark (Cuban), Jalen (Brunson), and Dwight (Powell), I think Maxi (Kleber) went – that was put together extremely well. It wasn’t violent. People were allowed to get their emotions out, and I think it spoke on a lot of things and a lot of issues there are in this country."

As far as what people can do to be better going forward? The answer is a simple one for Jackson, although, as we've seen time after time over the years, it's easier said than done for a lot of folks.

"I think the biggest thing we can do as individuals is to just love each other," said Jackson. "Show that you care for the other person. For a person, not for their race, not for their religion, not for whatever might make them a little different than you. I think a lot of times, we go through life, and we interact with so many different people. And there’s so many stereotypes made. There’s so many things that cause people to have judgments on other people. 

"Our biggest thing that we can do as individuals, is not look at that other person across from us as a white person, or a black person, or a Muslim, or a Christian, or whatever it might be, but rather just look at them as a human being."

George Floyd, as well as a long list of other black men through the years, should still be alive. Most people will and should agree with that statement, but when it comes to the method of protest people have chosen in order to be heard, that's where some of that unneeded judgment that Jackson speaks of comes into play.

"I’ve been reading a whole lot of stuff now where people are starting to question... people are starting talk bad about the people who are doing all of the rioting and looting," said Jackson. "The biggest problem (with that) is, this is how these people feel like they can be heard. That’s just the unfortunate aspect of it. All of the peaceful protests and all of that up until this point, you know, we still have people being killed for no reason, and that sort of injustice, so now people feel like this is the only way they can be heard."

Whether you agree with how aggressive some people are protesting or not, you can't deny the existence of a movement, as there have reportedly been protests of police brutality and racial injustices in all 50 states and a handful of other countries as well. Many people, even those who might not have spoken up before, are doing so now. This current "Black Lives Matter" wave could be among the biggest civil rights movements in history, and we're living in it. All that said, though, people's hearts have to truly change for all of this to have staying power, according to Jackson.

"For us, it’s just a matter of not making judgments, and just looking at the person in front of us, and looking at them as a human being just like us," said Jackson. "If we can do that, I think there will be some sort of change, but until that (happens), I don’t think it’ll really matter.”

Everything that has happened in the last few weeks isn't enough to bring permanent change across the country, not yet at least. At the very least, though, it has forced a lot of people to open their eyes, for real this time, to truly listen, and to start having these hard conversations that need to be had. Judgments and stereotypes, as Jackson spoke on, are not the way for us to grow and make it through this tough time. Showing empathy, love, and human decency towards one another – that is the simple answer, and it’s up to all of us to see it through, together.