Former Boston Celtics head coach and current Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers shared a story about recently-passed civil rights icon and Georgia Democratic Representative John Lewis while speaking with reporters during his post-practice media availability Saturday.
Back when he was still a player on the Atlanta Hawks roster, a younger Rivers went on a trip with former Mayor of Atlanta Andrew Young and Lewis for a speech Young planned to give at an all-white church in Georgia in support of his gubernatorial campaign.
“We flew to Albany, Georgia, of all places, and Andrew Young gave a speech … and he was fantastic. It was an absolutely amazing speech,” Rivers explained via USA Today’s Chris Bumbaca. “The crowd was going crazy. We get on the plane, and we’re talking, and Andrew Young turns to me and said — he used to call me ‘Young Doc’ — he says, ‘Young Doc, what did you think about the speech?'”
“And I jokingly said, ‘Well, Mr. Young, I thought the speech was great, but I don’t think you’re getting one vote from that church, and everybody started laughing,” the former Celtics coach related.
“John Lewis piped in and says, ‘Well, we’re not trying to get all of them, we’re just trying to get one at a time, and eventually it will be all of them.’ I thought that was just one powerful statement,” added Rivers.
Calling Lewis’ death a “really sad day in our country,” he noted that much of the fight of Lewis’ career was in many ways still ongoing, even if much progress had been during his life and because of his struggle.
“What’s amazing is when you think about right now, some of the stuff that John Lewis was fighting for, we’re still fighting for,” Rivers said.
“Voter suppression right now is at an all-time high. It’s amazing how hard — we have a group of people who are trying to get people not to vote. Latinos, Blacks and young people are the targets. That’s who they’re trying to get not to vote.”
“It’s amazing when you think about how long ago that was, and yet we’re still fighting that fight.”
Then again, as noted in the Lewis quote posted by current Celtics center Enes Kanter, “Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”
Rest In Power, John Lewis.
