Syracuse, N.Y. — Alan Griffin has scrolled social media and witnessed the “disturbing” incidents of racial inequity and violence against Black people. The Syracuse University basketball junior has participated in conversations with his teammates, his coaches and with an SU academic advisor on those subjects.

And on Friday, Griffin wanted to share his thoughts with local reporters about the sluggish response to racial injustice that prompted first the NBA, then the WNBA, and then a host of other professional and collegiate sports teams to postpone games in favor of conversations that could lead to societal reckoning.

“I want to use my platform, voice, to speak about what’s going on in today’s world. It’s not right. I feel like we’re all one, but you can’t put someone’s life in front of somebody else’s. With the Jacob Blake situation, it was very unfortunate,” he said during a Friday Zoom call.

“You see this white boy who has guns and stuff and then you see Jacob Blake, who was unarmed and he was shot several times. It was very disturbing for people of my color and it should be disturbing for everybody. We’re all human. You only get one life. As a Black person you never know when it will be your last day, if you get pulled over or if you get into a situation that you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Griffin said Syracuse players have not halted workouts in protest, but have spoken with SU coach Jim Boeheim about the ongoing pain of watching police shoot Black men. He said conversations have “definitely brought us closer” as teammates, to consider “different points of views.”

“We’ve had conversations. What more can we do?,’” he said. “We protest. Some rioting, which is unfortunate, but what more can we do? We’ve gone about it in nice ways, protesting. And how many more families do we need to see step up on podiums talking about the life they’ve lost and their family. It’s just very disturbing and it needs to come to a stop. Speaking about it is not enough. We need change. We need actions.”

Griffin said he has not been the victim of police profiling or police brutality, but has witnessed too many of those incidents on social media. He kept using the word “disturbing” to describe how those incidents continue to impact his life.

Earlier this month, the NCAA granted Griffin immediate eligibility after he transferred to Syracuse from Illinois. The waiver was expected. Griffin’s hometown of Ossining is closer to Syracuse than Champaign, Illinois, and college basketball observers bet the NCAA would award waivers to players who chose to transfer and attend college closer to home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite his recent addition to the Orange squad, Griffin said he expects to play a leadership role at Syracuse. He considers LeBron James an idol and said James’ pledge to use his wide platform to speak about injustice has inspired him to use his own voice.

The NBA and the WNBA have elected to resume their seasons, but Griffin said he believed sports right now should play a secondary role to speaking out about injustice. Griffin applauded Kyrie Irving’s early stance on the subject; Irving was an early advocate of shutting down the NBA season to concentrate on solutions to systemic racism.

“Personally, I don’t think players should continue,” Griffin said, “but if they want to continue, they can. … But personally, as we speak, we don’t need to have any major sports go on until we get the situation resolved.”

Boeheim gathered his team on Zoom earlier this summer and encouraged them to register to vote. SU has reported that all Orange players who are United States citizens have registered to vote in the 2020 election.

“Everyone needs to vote,” Griffin said.

Donna Ditota is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? Reach her at dditota@syracuse.com.