Basketball Wives star Royce Reed has long been known for her strong personality on the VH1 reality show. The former Miami Heat dancer has encountered her fair share of quarrels with her fellow castmates, but one thing the pint-sized personality has never been one to give up on is her vocal stance on things she is passionate about.
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After the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by the hands of Geroge Zimmerman, the Florida native became extremely articulate about her call to justice for Zimmerman to be arrested. Through Twitter posts and the sharing of facts about the case, Royce quickly turned her Twitter feed in to an array of informational blurbs, contained within 140 characters or less, about her thoughts on Trayvon Martin’s murder.
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GlobalGrind caught up with Royce who shared her passionate views on the Trayvon Martin case. Like GlobalGrind, Royce is seeking justice and rocking out with her proverbial hoodie up.
Check out what she had to say in the exclusive interview below.
GlobalGrind: Let’s talk a little bit about the Trayvon Martin case. You’ve been pretty active talking a lot about the Trayvon Martin case on Twitter. Tell us your stance on the case; how did you first find out about it.
Royce Reed: I first found out about it actually the day it happened. I didn’t really want to say too much because I didn’t know the details, but then as things started coming out, “I was like why isn’t this man arrested?”
I was one of the people totally against the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. I understand defending yourself, especially when it’s on your property, but when you go out, and you’re following someone, and then the dispatcher is telling you “We don’t need to do that,” and you continue to do it. It results in somebody being murdered, and they still don’t arrest him. That’s very disturbing.
George Zimmerman shouldn’t just be walking around free. Not once has this man come out and actually vocalized his stance. I understand that he might be afraid, but out of respect for the family, and out of respect for the city you need to be able to say something. To me that’s kind of suspect. It shows a lack of respect. I don’t feel like there really is any remorse.
You’re in Orlando right now. Here in New York we have a lot of protests going on, but do you feel like there’s a different atmosphere there because the murder took place in Florida?
It definitely is! People don’t realize it’s actually larger than what it seems like on TV. The only thing I guess I could compare it to, is when people would see all the videos of Hurricane Katrina and people who were actually a part of it, or you actually went to go see it and you’re like “Oh My God! It’s so much worst!” It’s so much worst here.
I’m raising a young man. This is my heart, and to know that when he gets older that I’ll be fighting battles that I can’t necessarily fight for him, I’m going to be scared everyday. I’m scared everyday now!
I’m sure you’ve heard Geraldo Rivera’s commentary about letting young minorities wear hoodies. How do you feel about that comment as a mother?
I think it was a very ignorant statement, and I know he was supposed to have the family on his show. He was going to apologize for his statements. Why are you apologizing because somebody had to tell you it was wrong? You should’ve known before you said it. It was wrong.
You feel like this apology wasn’t sincere?
It’s hard for me at times to really take a person’s apology after it’s been asked for, because if nobody said anything to you, you wouldn’t have felt sorry. He had to be asked, so I can’t really take it as 100 percent. I take it at face value.
On your Twitter page, you’re well known for being outspoken, how have you been using your Twitter as a platform to educate others about this case?
I’m always posting studies, especially on the education of African-American males, as well as females, but mostly our men. It’s like they’re becoming extinct and when I start posting certain facts I get some people saying this can’t be true. Oh no! It’s very true. It’s just so sad that I don’t see many of us going to college anymore. I don’t even see most of us graduating high school. I see more of us in jail than I see in college or in school period.
You tweeted some thoughts about the Orlando Magic not speaking out about the Trayvon Martin case; do you want to elaborate on how you feel about that?
You have teams like Miami Heat who are in Florida, and they are making such a strong stance on it, and we’re here in Orlando—5 minutes! Right around the corner from where it happened—they’ll even consider it in some places part of Orlando, and they’re so quiet about it. At some point money should not be above doing what’s right, or above speaking out on something that you know is wrong. There’s been several times where I been offered money to do certain things that I just don’t believe in like posing nude and stuff. There’s certain things I just won’t do because money is not that serious. Something like this! I don’t understand how a player can be like “I’m not going to get that fine,” but there’s a young black male, which most of them are, dead! It’s heart breaking. It almost leaves you speechless because when they look in the mirror they see themselves, and they should see Trayvon because all of them walk around in hoodies on a regular basis…stand up as a black male, not even as a black person, but as a black male! Show some respect!
You mentioned you mentor young girls on your dance group. I know you’re on TV, and on a show like ‘Basketball Wives’ where there’s a lot of petty arguing and things like that, how do you show them there’s more?
Well first, I felt the need to lead by example because even though I am on the show, I knew the first season wasn’t a good look. I didn’t even like myself fighting on the last one, and I was like how can I speak about something when I’m doing the opposite.
