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Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has become one of many NBA players who is committed to social issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustices.
While the NBA was on hold due to the coronavirus, players like Mitchell, Blazers’ CJ McCollum, and the Sixers’ Tobias Harris turned their attention to politics by joining in to interview Democratic Vice President candidate Kamala Harris, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
On Tuesday, the “Kamala Harris, CJ McCollum, Donovan Mitchell, and Tobias Harris: The Power of Voting,” videotaped interview was released, showing the three NBA players and Kamala Harris respectfully socially distancing with masks. According to the news outlet, the interview looks like it took place inside of an airplane hangar as they conversed over hot topics—specifically those pertaining to the Black community. Notably, the importance of voting during this crucial time in America.
Mitchell led the interview with a candid opening, “No voice is too little, and I think the great thing about the league is we were making a huge push to go out and vote, focusing on education, finding ways to at least inform and give back to the community,” he said. “My mom being a teacher, she’s instilled that in me. But that was really one of the biggest things for me coming into the bubble — the play was going to take care of itself, but I wanted to be able to give back that knowledge. That’s really what carries and goes a long way.”
Kamala, also a California senator responded by discussing issues she felt are important to Black America and the upcoming election, with an emphasis on the importance of people knowing how to pick ideal candidates that hold an ideology that would be beneficial for the Supreme Court’s future and how this ability to pick right candidates will impact the continuous civil right battles such as voter suppression laws.
“In 2013, the United States Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Right after they got rid of these protections, all these states ended up putting in place laws that were designed to prevent Black folks from voting,” Kamala Harris said. “… Why do you think so many powerful people are trying to make it so difficult for us to vote? And you know what the answer is: ‘Cuz they know when we vote, things change. Don’t let anybody take your power.”
The group of four also touched on the racial tensions stemming from the injustices of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob Blake. Kamala weighed in her perspective, claiming she didn’t know a single Black man that hadn’t had a run-in with the law, and the only way to change this type of injustice is to change the leadership of America. But in order to do that, it must be acknowledged that there is systemic racism that is prevalent and existing within our society.
She then turned the conversation to agendas that her and Presidential running mate, Joe Biden are aiming to do; a national ban on chokeholds and carotid holds by police officers and a “national registry of cops who violate laws.” This proposal if pushed through would make it harder for officers to move from one agency to another if they have violated their oath.
Mitchell felt the need to touch base on education, a topic he is devoted to, and would like to see have more equality. “There are some friends I went to private school with who have no idea what’s happening 45 minutes away in the projects, in certain areas. No idea how certain people live. And vice versa,” Mitchell began. “… I’m 24, and there are people way older than me who don’t even know what Juneteenth is. Or Black Wall Street. And I’m informing them. I always wonder, if we want to get to the ultimate goal of equality — whether it’s through education or systemic racism or voter suppression, whatever it is — the best thing we can do is inform. There’s no way a kid in the Bronx shouldn’t receive the same education — because of where he goes to school — as a kid in Connecticut. So, what is the Biden/Harris plan to help that?”
“You have raised what I think is one of the most important issues that we need to address immediately,” Kamala responded. Also adding that it isn’t just about education equality but equity as well. She doesn’t feel its necessary to give every school the same amount of resources, this is how those with an advantage maintain the lead and get further ahead, but it would be more ideal to focus on giving resources to those schools that need it the most, this is a step to getting everyone the same educational chances.
“We fund public schools based on the tax base of that community. Well, that’s completely upside down. That doesn’t make any sense. Because the schools that are getting the lowest amount of funding are in the communities that have the highest need,” she said. “So part of what we’re gonna do is called Title I funding — basically, the funding that goes to low-income schools, we’re gonna triple it.” Basically, the VP candidate would like America to invest in its health which would be done by funding the root causes that plague the disadvantaged communities with hopes of seeing an improvement.
“You go to any upper-middle class suburb in America, you will not see the kind of police presence that you’ll see in other communities; but what you will see: well-funded public schools, high rates of home ownership, access to capital for small businesses, affordable health care and affordable mental health care,” Kamala Harris said. “Healthy communities are safe communities.”
