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Reporters asked Spurs coach Gregg Popovich a question. He talked about voter disenfranchisement.
In what can only be described as “typical Pop,” San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich turned a question about Marco Belinelli’s availability against the Memphis Grizzlies into a lecture on the history of voter disenfranchisement against Black people in America.
The criticism of Popovich is simple. “Why do this when it had nothing to do with the simple question asked?” In the movie The Great Debaters, Samantha Booke says, “The time for justice is always now.” What made Popovich’s action so poignant is he did not wait until it was convenient to speak on the voting issue.
Voter suppression, redlining and taking away voter rights have long been problem that disproportionately affect people of color in the United States. We are nearing a pivotal election in November and voter rights are on center stage.
Gregg Popovich is no stranger to talking about issues of race and inequity in the United States.
In one of the first meetings after the NBA shutdown, Popovich took the opportunity to speak on racism and reparations. As far back as 2017, Popovich has been outspoken on issues of race and racism.
This latest lesson during his media session was on the history of Black voter suppression. The five-time championship-winning coach talked about legislation in North Carolina that kept Black people from voting soon after the Civil War.
Popovich seems to understand three things about this climate and his role. First, he understands as a white male of privilege with a platform, he has an opportunity to use that position for the greater good. Second, he understands that history is not a cipher.
Many people treat history like a cipher without any repercussions for those living in the present. If that were true then, “those that fail to learn from the past would not be doomed to repeat it.” The effects of slavery, Jim Crow and bigoted legislation still resonate today, and Pop gets that.
Most important, Popovich understands that gestures cannot be reduced to pacification. Though Popovich did not kneel — he’s 71 — during the national anthem, his actions in keeping the conversation about America’s racist past and present prove that he is about actions, not simple gestures.
His lecture on Black voter suppression was not “convenient.” But the fight for justice and equity never is.