The Lakers and the NBA had a large hurdle to clear when trying to restart the 2019-20 NBA season. That hurdle was, of course, the reason that the season was suspended in the first place, as the league had to find a safe way to return as the global pandemic of COVID-19 continued to surge through America. They figured it out, as there still hasn’t been one positive case of COVID-19 in the Orlando bubble since the season resumed in late July. Even though that was the main thing going on in America when the league was planning to come back, there was another hurdle that was important to the players that needed to be addressed before returning. That was the aspect of the NBA being a distraction from America in regards to social injustices in America related to racist police brutality against Black people. Danny Green and others in the NBA have continued to try and bring sustained awareness to this issue as there still hasn’t been much legislative action to try and correct these issues that have led to the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and countless other Black Americans over the years.
To do this, Green has discussed these names and these issues up front in his media sessions. After one on Friday, Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll asked him when this type of off-the-court advocacy became important from him. He shared a touching story about his father instilling this in him at an early age:
“Since the day I got to the league. It’s something my dad instilled in me, I can’t take credit for it. Since I got drafted, we started doing community stuff around my neighborhood, starting with basketball camps… We’ve been doing that 11 or 12 years… And the reason why I started a podcast is not only to obviously get other people’s voices out there, get my voice out there, but also to use that platform for the greater good. Whenever something needs to happen, or needs to be changed, or something needs to be brought to light, I think those are the ways to use those platforms to your advantage. So that’s always been a conscious thing for me since I was drafted, and even at Carolina. We did a lot of stuff with Special Olympics, they taught us things the right way there. But my dad instilled that in me at a young age, he was a history teacher and he did a lot for the community in the town I grew up in. So he instilled that in me and my brothers.”
Danny Green once again starts his interview by saying that we "can't forget why we're here," and mentioned getting justice for Jacob Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others who have not gotten it yet.
— Playoff Faigen (@hmfaigen) September 11, 2020
It’s commendable that Danny Green doesn’t want any credit for his continued push for justice for these slain Black Americans, giving all the credit to his father. We should definitely give Green his flowers regarding this, as it’s not easy to continuously talk about people being killed in America just for having the same skin color as Green. It’s traumatizing for Black people even when they aren’t directly involved with these individuals, but you can tell that Green’s father prepared him well for this social injustice fight.
