Murals of Kobe and Gigi untouched amid LA protests

Screenshot taken shows Vanessa Bryant wrote her gratitude down via Instagram for the murals of her late husband and daughter untouched during the George Floyd protests.

Vanessa Bryant wrote her gratitude down via Instagram earlier this week for demonstrators and protesters in Los Angeles keeping murals of her late husband Kobe and daughter Gianna untouched during the George Floyd protests.

Protests over the death of George Floyd exploded across the US after a video showed how Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, was suffocated by a white police officer in Minneapolis, the biggest city in Minnesota. In this video, despite all Floyd’s pleas for his life, the white police officer kept kneeling on his neck until he finally lost consciousness and died. In the last minutes of his life, Floyd kept begging the police and said, “Please, I can’t breathe.”

It is not the first and only death of black men caused by police officers in the US. Six years ago, New York police choked Eric Garner, a black local resident, during an arrest, resulting in his death. When he was placed in a chokehold by policemen, he also repeated, “I can’t breathe.”

Back then, Kobe Bryant, an American professional basketball player who won five NBA championships, 18-time All-Star and many other accolades, wore a T-shirt with many of his teammates to show his care about the death of Eric Garner and support for human rights of people of color. Vanessa also posted this photo on her Instagram page 4 days ago, with the tag “BLACKLIVESMATTER”, “Life is so fragile…Be an example of the change we want to see.”

Being the most cherished athlete in the eyes of Angelenos, Kobe died in a fatal helicopter crash in Calabasas on January 26, 2020, breaking hearts of Lakers fans in Los Angeles and across the world. One month after his tragic death, the City of Angels held the Kobe Bryant public memorial at Staples Center, the Sports and Entertainment Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Thousands of fans showed up to mourn the late NBA superstar, his teenage daughter Gianna and the other seven people whose lives were taken in the heart-breaking accident. Along with the public memorial at the arena, dozens of artists have created beautiful murals around the city, helping basketball fans and Black Mamba admirers alike pay their tribute to the legend.

Amid the protests and chaos in L.A., Vanessa’s words drew great empathy from netizens.

@Hou5ton4L said via twitter, “Anyone who defaces a Kobe and Gigi mural should be sentenced to life in prison”.

@MVFrankieP wrote, “Y’all really thought people in LA would vandalize a Kobe mural?? The man gave us half his life. We are forever grateful and in debt to him and his family”.

Similar lines could be easily found on Twitter, reminding people of the legacy the 41-year-old father and husband left behind.