Bill Russell: Racism is not a historical footnote

[Tanuki]

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/bill-russell-nba-racial-injustice

.. "All of this might seem like ancient history, with no bearing on today. After all, these are stories from my early childhood, stories that are 80 years old. But in terms of time, 80 years is only a generation or two. Black kids today don’t grow up worried the Klan will kill them in the middle of the night — they worry the police will. The effects of racial terror perpetrated over hundreds of years don’t disappear simply because America wills them to. Yet all is not hopeless. There are ways to make them disappear. They disappear with national reckoning, with an examination of our cultural norms and our power structures, with the dismantling and rebuilding of our institutions, and by ending voter suppression so that everyone can vote for change from the bottom to the top of the ballot. In 1969, Black and Brown folks were fighting against social injustices that are no less pervasive today, the mode of delivery has just changed. They are easy to see if you only look, particularly in politics.
.....

As long as large swaths of Americans regard slavery, Jim Crow and racism as historical footnotes — missteps long since corrected — there is no way to move past racism. Fifty-three years won’t do it, and 153 years won’t do it. It’s like apologizing for something without knowing what you’re apologizing for — no real understanding comes of it. If America doesn’t reckon with the past, divisions will only worsen.

....

Real change takes time — lots of it.

The funny thing about the past, though, is that it’s never really gone. In some ways, my entire life was built on the foundation built by my parents. This is not unique to me. For better or worse, your life was also built on its foundations, whatever they were. America is no different. Its foundations are readily apparent, if we only look.

They imbue everything, from who we honor in monuments and statues, to the history we teach in classrooms, to the mascots we choose for our sports teams. Recently, Confederate statues have been toppled, some purposefully, and some by force. I remember when a monument honoring Confederate soldiers was built in 1963 in Boston, even though we weren’t in the South, and even though it honored people who had fought for slavery, and even though it had been 100 years since Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. That monument was built in response to desegregation. It was built by the Daughters of the Confederacy, far from the South, as a reminder of the Grand Old South. It was nostalgic of a time when Black people were enslaved, when there was pride in the fight against freedom, and it remains a clear example of how the heartbeat of the past thumps on into the present."... (more)

[Hoyt]

1. Worth a read. If it is any consolation, I saw Lester Maddox in his last days wondering around

a big mall parking lot alone, presumably looking for nickels and dimes. I was sitting in a Sears auto shop getting new tires or a battery.

Thought it was fitting, I despised that worthless human. One of the last Dixiecrats.

Bill Russell is like Ali and Jim Brown, a true hero. Same for Bill Russell's dad and granddad.

[Docreed2003]

2. Big K&R

I have long respected Russell for his on the court accomplishments, he's one of my "favorite players" even though I'm too young to have seen him play, but this is a great piece and it speaks to and adds tremendous weight to the power of this moment.