Hurricane Dorian brought misery to the Bahamas, killing a minimum of 51 people with over 1,300 still missing. Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has deep ties to the Bahamas as his father, Mychal, was born there. Thompson spent a big part of his childhood there, and he didn’t like what President Donald Trump had to say about the Bahamas after the disaster.
“I didn’t appreciate the language he used with Bahamians,” Thompson told USA TODAY Sports. “They’re gang members and criminals? I’ve known Bahamians my whole life. Yes, there are criminals in Nassau. But there are criminals worldwide. When you lose everything, your home, your loved ones and thousands are dead, and then you generalize a whole population, I thought it was very, very ill-advised and bad timing. That language really (ticked) me off.”
Not much bothers Klay Thompson, but he was pretty steamed over what President Trump said about the Bahamas following the destruction that Hurricane Dorian inflicted on his father’s homeland. https://t.co/G6o61v8Tn3
— USA TODAY NBA (@usatodaynba) September 21, 2019
Trump didn’t grant “temporary protected status” to the people of the Bahamas, saying “I don’t want to allow people that weren’t supposed to be in the Bahamas to come into the United States, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very, very bad drug dealers.”
Mychal Thompson, a former No. 1 pick overall, and two-time NBA champion, also didn’t like Trump’s comments.
“He’s wrong about the gang affiliations over there,” Mychal said. “There are people over there that are good people. Hard-working people. So he was wrong with that statement. I don’t think (other) Americans have misconceptions about Bahamians. We don’t have gang problems and that type of hard problems in the Bahamas. We have people who are in need and in poverty. But for the most part, Bahamians are great people and help each other out in times of need. That’s what they’re doing right now.”
The Thompson family is working hard to raise funds and awareness through their foundation, and will donate about $1 million to the relief effort.
