Gregg Popovich normally is a man of few words, but when he speaks he always hits the nail on the head.
And that’s even more apparent when the San Antonio Spurs coach discusses issues affecting the United States of America and President Donald Trump.
Popovich was asked about Trump at Spurs Media Day on Monday, and the legendary head coach gave a powerful speech slamming Trump and the foundations of racism while discussing the NFL protests that took place Sunday.
The Spurs coach didn’t mince words when he discussed the president’s actions.
“Our country is an embarrassment in the world,” Popovich said. “This is an individual who actually thought that when people held arms during the games, that they were doing it to honor the glad. That’s delusional. Absolutely delusional, but it’s what we have to live with, so you’ve got a choice: We can continue to bounce our heads off the wall with his conduct, or we can decide that the institutions of our country are more important, that people are more important, that the decent America we all thought we had and want is more important, and get down to business at the grassroots level, and do what we have to do.”
And then Popovich delivered a poignant address on race in America.
“Obviously, race is the elephant in the room and we all understand that,” Popovich said. “Unless it is talked about constantly, it’s not going to get better. ‘Oh, they’re talking about that again. They pulled the race card again. Why do we have to talk about that?’’ Well, because it’s uncomfortable. There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change, whether it’s the LGBT movement, or women’s suffrage, race, it doesn’t matter. People have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people, because we’re comfortable. We still have no clue what being born white means. And if you read some of the recent literature, you realize there really is no such thing as whiteness. We kind of made it up. That’s not my original thought, but it’s true.
“It’s hard to sit down and decide that, yes, it’s like you’re at the 50-meter mark in a 100-meter dash. You’ve got that kind of a lead, yes, because you were born white. You have advantages that are systemically, culturally, psychologically rare. And they’ve been built up and cemented for hundreds of years. But many people can’t look at it that way, because it’s too difficult. It can’t be something that’s on their plate on a daily basis. People want to hold their position, people want their status quo, people don’t want to give that up. Until it’s given up, it’s not going to be fixed.”
Well said, Pop.
Thumbnail photo via Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports Images
