Bill Russell has been around for a long time. And now, he’s living through a global pandemic while the United States has seen protests in all 50 states calling out police brutality and racial inequality.
The Boston Celtics legend penned a powerful op-ed in The Boston Globe on Tuesday, writing he’s been waiting his entire life for America “to live up to” the promise that’s unfulfilled in the Declaration of Independence.
“Let me remind you of that unfulfilled promise, the one right there in the Declaration of Independence: ‘All men are created equal’Â … “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” he wrote.
“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.”
The senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have seen waves of people taking to the streets calling for justice. And Russell, who experienced racism during his time as a Celtic and became the NBA’s first Black head coach, added he is “heartened” by seeing the people “risk their lives” to march for what they believe in.
“… 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.”
