French NBA player wears ‘Je Suis Charlie’ shirts
Washington Wizards center Kevin Seraphin, from France, wears a “Je Suis Charlie” T-shirt during warmups for an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls, Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, in Washington. AP
WASHINGTON—The “Je Suis Charlie” rally cry is making its way into the NBA.
Washington Wizards forward Kevin Seraphin, who was born in French Guiana, wore a black T-shirt with the phrase written in white in all caps before Friday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls.
A day earlier, French-born forward Nicolas Batum of the Portland Trail Blazers wore a similar shirt before a game against the Miami Heat.
“Je Suis Charlie”—”I Am Charlie” in English—has become a worldwide slogan to show solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, a Paris weekly newspaper where 12 people were killed Wednesday in a terrorist attack.
Bulls forward Joakim Noah noticed Seraphin’s T-shirt on Friday and gave an approving chest-tap at midcourt. Noah’s father, former pro tennis champion Yannick Noah, is French.
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