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Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell has written a powerful column in which he addresses the state of America.
The Celtics icon, who has seen racism in America his whole life, is hoping these “strange times” we are living in right now will soon die down.
Russell spoke about the COVID-19 pandemic and the systematic racism that has existed in America ever since he was born in 1934.
Via The Boston Globe:
Article Continues BelowWe are living in strange times, but I’ve seen stranger. There’s the kind of strange that means uncommon or out of the ordinary. The COVID-19 pandemic is surely representative of that. Then there’s the kind of strange that means peculiar, perverse, uncomfortable and ill at ease. Now that’s the kind of strange I’ve known my whole life. It’s the kind of strange Billie Holiday sang about when she sang, “Southern trees bear a strange fruit. Blood on the leaves and blood on the root,” referring, of course, to the then common practice of the lynching of Black people.
I’ve been waiting my whole life for America to live up to that promise and the fact that it hasn’t, that in America the systemic and pervasive killing of Black and brown people has never been strange in the “out of the ordinary” sense of the word, but only in the “uncomfortable and ill at ease” sense of the word, adds up to nothing less than, in the words of that Billie Holiday song again, a strange and bitter crop of injustices, with bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for the tree to drop.
Yet, I am heartened by the waves of Black Lives Matter protesters risking their lives to march among our streets. I am heartened by the Minneapolis City Council’s pledge to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department in response to their protests. And I sincerely hope that these kinds of strange days are forever behind us, and that real, lasting change will finally be realized. Our lives depend on it.
You have to feel for Bill Russell. The 11-time Celtics champion has been wanting to see equality in America since he was a child, and yet there is still racism in this country when he's 86-years-old.
The Celtics great has never shied away from bashing President Donald Trump and speaking up for his fellow African Americans. It's why many call Russell the “GOAT” on and off the court.
The tragic murder of George Floyd in Minnesota at the hands of policemen has sparked nationwide protests. Many NBA players are hesitant to resume the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World because they feel sports will take the attention off of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Russell's Celtics are among the 22 teams who will be partaking in the “bubble” games in sunny Orlando, Florida. The games are scheduled to begin on July 30.
