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Busy day in the NBA as the major sports league perhaps most closely associated with the black community and black culture (and no, I don’t really think I can quantify that) uses the US Federal holiday dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King jr. as an opportunity to play nearly a full slate of games – 26 of the 30 teams are in action – with tributes to the fallen civil rights leader as part of the backdrop.
As promised earlier, here are some thoughts from Raptors coach Sam Mitchell on one of his heroes.
Digressions with Sam v1.5:
Do people in the league understand the significance of Martin Luther King jr. Day?
I don’t know how much our young culture gets. It’s not that long ago, you’re talking about 45 years ago, something like that. But what he stood for and what he died for – he was just truly a remarkable individual. To do what he did under the circumstances in which he did it, knowing how his life was probably going to turn out.
You understand how important life is, and to have enough inside of you to still stand and do what’s right, even though it’s going to cost you your life, understanding how precious life is to everybody, to still have the courage to say the things he said and stand up for what he stood for, it’s remarkable.
Has anyone carried his message in the same manner?
Not in his manner, but I’m sure they’ve done it in their own way. But to that extent? First of all, no one can wake up in the morning and decide they’re going to do that. I think when you listen to Dr. King, the way he talked and the things he talked about, I’ve heard times when he’s said he didn’t know that he wanted to do it.
In his “I have a dream speech” he talked about wanting to live, but yet understanding that there was something inside of him that had a higher calling to do what he needed to do. It was God’s calling for him to stand up for injustice around the world. But he talked at length about being afraid of death, of not knowing if he wanted to do the things he was called to do.
My point is, you can’t wake up tomorrow and say you’re going to be like Dr. King. It has to truly be a calling. I know all of don’t believe in that spiritual higher being [he might be looking in my direction here] but for a person to feel what he felt ….the thing I loved about him was he was just a man, but he was a man who listened to a voice, and that voice was from God.
I feel like God speaks to us all, but do we all listen? Do we all want to go through those things, especially when it calls for sacrificing your life to do what you’re called to do?
We all want to enjoy life, we all want to live. To me you don’t wake up and do that, it’s a higher calling.”
Do you have any memories from when you were younger?
I remember when I got older and my Mom and Dad talking about when he was assassinated and they just felt like someone close in your family had just died. People were just devastated. For weeks you didn’t know what to do with yourself, how to feel, how to think. He was fighting for all this progress and you go, “where do we go now?”
He had an unbelievable mark on our future. I tell our guys all the time, I probably wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for some of the things he stood for. And it was for everyone, women, everybody.”
