Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert has shared his two cents worth on the issue of racial discrimination that has mired the nation of late.
The reigning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year came out with a very personal statement via Twitter, as he shared a photo of his father, who is black, and his white mother. In Gobert's mind, the change will always come from within.
1/2 Nature made this possible for a reason. It’s always easier to choose hate and fear over love and compassion. The reality is if we want change, it starts by all looking into ourselves first, and then come together because no one can do it alone. pic.twitter.com/FjyeZBnQU8
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) June 11, 2020
2/2 I want my future kids and all the younger generations to live in a world where they can all be treated as equal. It starts with education and of course by holding each other accountable as human beings. I believe that we can do it.
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) June 11, 2020
Rudy Gobert raises an important point here about education. As he implied, it is everyone's responsibility to ensure that they are personally aware of the social injustices that continue to be prevalent to this very day and why it is so wrong.
Talking about being educated and accountability, however, we cannot help but bring up Gobert's earlier bout with the coronavirus. As we all know, Gobert was the first player in the NBA to ever test positive for the virus — something that he has fully recovered from since. After the Jazz announced Gobert's positive result, a video of the 7-foot-1 center mockingly touching reporters' audio equipment in an earlier interview. The Jazz star was heavily criticized for this irresponsible act, and it even caused a rift between himself and Utah teammate Donovan Mitchell, who later on also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Gobert later apologized for his mistake and took full accountability for his actions. This served as a learning experience for him, and perhaps this is where he is coming from with his message here about racism. Gobert himself went through a similar experience (not the racism part, of course), so he can now honestly say that it can be done.