The Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard spent Friday night in Charleston, attending a vigil in honor of the nine victims in the church shooting.
“It hurt to see the things that happened in Charleston,” said Howard to CNN, adding, “It just broke my heart, because I felt like that could’ve been me. It could’ve been my friends, it could’ve been my pastor. It could’ve been anybody. And I wanted to be there to show my support, and just to show people that we need change in our society.”
The shirt Howard is wearing refers to the “We Will Breathe Movement” that Howard started in response to recent police shooting incidents. Howard, the son of a police officer, writes on his site:
“Breathe Again. From police shootings, to the ensuing riots, we have all watched in sadness as our country has gone through significant turmoil. My sadness has grown deeper as I watch people firmly plant themselves on one side or the other, usually based on race. We need new perspective, a new life. We need to Breathe Again. Oxygen represents life. We need to fill our bodies with new life. It is time for us to look past color, zip codes, the problems and look toward the causes and solutions. All of us know that we can’t continue going down this road. If we continue to separate ourselves along these lines, our society will break apart.”