This young man reminds me of Kareem Abdul Jabbar
It's refreshing to read about such a thoughtful and introspective professional athlete. American youth could stand to be more like Jaylen Brown.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/09/jaylen-brown-boston-celtics-nba-interview
Brown admits that, when he was 14, “It wounds you. But when I got older and went to the University of California [Berkeley] I learnt about a more subtle racism and how it filters across our education system through tracking, hidden curriculums, social stratification and things I had no idea of before. I was really emotional – because one of the most subtle but aggressive ways racism exists is through our education system.”
In his year at college, before pausing his degree to play in the NBA, Brown wrote a thesis about how institutionalised sport impacts on education. “I was super emotional reading about it,” he says of his chosen subject. “There’s this idea of America that some people have to win and some have to lose so certain things are in place to make this happen. Some people have to be the next legislators and political elites and some have to fill the prisons and work in McDonald’s. That’s how America works. It’s a machine which needs people up top, and people down low.
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“That’s the reality because sports is a mechanism of control. If people didn’t have sports they would be a lot more disappointed with their role in society. There would be a lot more anger or stress about the injustice of poverty and hunger. Sports is a way to channel our energy into something positive. Without sports who knows what half of these kids would be doing?"
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Brown chose Berkeley because he knew he would be stretched academically. Has he missed the intellectual stimulus since swapping college for professional basketball? “Absolutely. I’ve missed it so much. I’m in a good environment here but at Cal I was learning something new every day. I’m now trying to keep well-balanced instead of single-minded. I take piano lessons after I spent the last year teaching myself piano. If I’m frustrated or had a bad day, but need to keep engaged, practicing the piano does that for me. Same with the YouTube [vlogs which he makes]. I use the camera so I can show something of this life to the everyday person who is interested in seeing what it’s like for an athlete on a day-to-day basis. Everybody puts you on a pedestal especially when you’re playing well and they make it seem like you’re not human. But I’m just a regular guy.”
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