Kei Kamara made his debut for Minnesota United in their Week 13 match in Columbus. But it wasn't just any regular game for the No. 5 all-time leading goalscorer in MLS history.
While he also discussed the 2-1 loss, Kamara started his postgame press conference with an appeal to the public to make their voices heard at the polls to help bring about change in the wake of the news emerging earlier in the day from Kentucky, where a grand jury did not charge any police officers in the death of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her own home. The decision sparked protests in cities around the nation.
"I want to start this [press conference] off by saying that I can't wait to be out there at the polls and finding my way to cast my vote November 3," Kamara said. "And I'm encouraging everyone out there and the fans thinking about whether or not they want to do it. Please make your decision, because every vote is going to count. We want to see the future to be bright and better for our kids and our kids' kids and the people after that. Unity is everything and we're still praying for that and fighting for that and hoping for change.
"We're not just preaching Black Lives Matter like it's just a slogan. It's not. We live every day in our skin and everywhere we go and everywhere we walk," Kamara continued. "Yes, the news about Breonna Taylor today: I'm laying in bed after our flight landed and getting ready to come to this game and just thinking how, how, how can this be a decision that hurts many.
"It's amazing to see people out there standing up for what's right and making sure that their voices are heard. But their voices are going to be a lot more powerful when it comes to decision day and voting day. So that's definitely standing up for what's right and Breonna Taylor and the rest of the people that's been suffering and the rest of the families that are still crying. Definitely, we continue to stand with everyone else and myself it's hard to go and be looked at in a different way. I'm a soccer player, sure. But it's bigger than that. We still came out there and played and put the focus. It's still my peace, soccer is, but after the game and then you go back into the locker room and you hear one or two things still going on and you're like 'Why are we still here playing soccer?'
Watch: Kei Kamara's shares message
"It's a day where us, we're coming out and participating in sports and playing soccer, but there's something so much bigger than what the game is," Kamara said. "Something so much bigger that's going on and hopefully people are not ignoring it because you get to watch soccer and you get to be at peace with that distraction a little bit."
Kamara wasn't the only MLS player to make his voice heard on the events in Kentucky. D.C. United's Bill Hamid and Philadelphia's Warren Creavalle took to Twitter to share their thoughts on Wednesday:
