Gregg Popovich Says White People Need to Call Out Racism
Written by SOURCE on June 7, 2020
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has never been one to mince his words, and with one of the largest displays of nationwide protesting for black lives happening right now, he decided to use his platform to call for change and accountability amongst other white people.
In a video address released by the Spurs organization on Saturday afternoon, coach Pop got emotional as he talks about how “embarrassed” he is of this country and that it is white people’s responsibility to be on the front lines to create a legitimate change.
“For white people to see how nonchalant, how casual, just how everyday-going-about-his job, so much so that he could just put his left hand in his pocket, wriggle his knee around a little bit to teach this person some sort of a lesson — and that it was his right and his duty to do it, in his mind,” Pop said of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. “I don’t know. … I think I’m just embarrassed as a white person to know that that can happen. To actually watch a lynching. We’ve all seen books, and you look in the books and you see black people hanging off of trees. And you … are amazed. But we just saw it again. I never thought I’d see that, with my own eyes, in real time.”
Pop when on to talk about how it is white people’s responsibility to end acts of racism like this from happening again by calling it out, no matter what.
“We have to do it. Black people have been shouldering this burden for 400 years,” he said. “The only reason this nation has made the progress it has is because of the persistence, patience, and effort of black people. The history of our nation from the very beginning in many ways was a lie, and we continue to this day, mostly black and brown people, to try to make that lie a truth so that it is no longer a lie. And those rights and privileges are enjoyed by people of color, just like we enjoy them. So it’s got to be us, in my opinion, that speak truth to power, and call it out, no matter what the consequences. We have to speak. We have to not let anything go.”
Coach Popovich is no stranger to voicing his opinion. During an interview with The Nation on Monday, Popovich condemned Donald Trump and several other politicians on their inaction and what he felt was a lack of qualification to hold their positions.
