Wyc Grousbeck: Celtics ‘don’t stand second to anybody’ when it comes to civil rights
"I never had the Celtics in my mind as a political organization, but we are a human organization."
Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck is committed to helping his team fight for social justice.
In an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Felger and Mazz” on Monday, Grousbeck shared that the NBA is more united as a league after the league paused play for three days in the aftermath of Jacob Blake being shot by police.
“We are unified as a league and last week, actually, the net result was more unity as a league of thinking that things are not right and be willing to take a strong stand against the things that are wrong,” Grousbeck said.
Grousbeck said that he didn’t “poll” Celtics players on if they wanted to continue the season or not, be he conceded that the players were right to at least pause the season to figure something out.
“When the players said we can’t continue without thinking about it, we as governors and team personnel got together with them and said ‘you know what, we’ve thought about it and you’re right,'” Grousbeck said. “‘Why don’t we use the platform and why don’t we also recommit to doing things and making things better.’
“I bet there was too many words about it, but it could have gone either way. We’re not going to try to compel players to play if they don’t feel like they can play. That’s their choice.”
The NBA and the NBPA agreed Friday that they will work together on several initiatives to combat social injustices, promote voting access and fight for police reform. Part of the initiative to promote voting access is for every team to make its arena a voting site for the 2020 general election.
Grousbeck, who doesn’t own TD Garden, said that TD Garden won’t be a voting site due to city rules. However, he doesn’t think that means the Celtics can’t fight for what’s right.
“I never had the Celtics in my mind as a political organization, but we are a human organization,” Grousbeck said. “We try to show the world in a way the best of humanity in some ways, which would be playing together, teamwork, being your best, going for a championship, doing stuff off the court.”
Grousbeck admitted that he “didn’t realize” until the events of this year that “things are not right and they have to be changed.” In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death by police, he said in a team statement that “Sometimes things just need to be said out loud. A statement needs to be made. Black lives matter. It’s time for us all to get together and get rid of racism once and for all.”
A statement needs to be made.
We are committed to driving change.#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/yyugldzgyP
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) June 4, 2020
Grousbeck re-affirmed that commitment on Monday.
“I can only speak for myself,” Grousbeck said when asked on what NBA governors will do to right racial inequality. “I’m committed to do a bunch of things. I’m committed to try to support my team, our team, as we go for a championship but also to support the discussion that’s been going on since George Floyd.”
The Celtics have broken several racial barriers in the team’s history. They were the first team to draft and play a Black player in NBA history when they drafted Chuck Cooper in 1950. They became the first team to ever have an all-Black starting five in 1963 and they made Bill Russell the first Black head coach in NBA history three years later.
Grousbeck said that it’s on him and the rest of his ownership group to carry on the Celtics’ legacy in fighting for what’s right.
“The Celtics have always been leaders in civil rights,” Grousbeck said. “We’ve read a lot about Bill Russell in recent days, but it goes all the way back. The Celtics had the first Black player, the first all-Black starting 5 and the first Black head coach. So, we don’t stand second to anybody and I’m trying to carry on in my lame way, because I’m not one of those greats that built this team, but I’m trying to help with my partners to carry it on.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
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