The Oklahoma City Thunder clinched a first-round playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, but after he sounded off on his team’s accomplishments and hopes for the postseason, the president of the NBA Players Association turned his attention to politics.
Senator Kamala Harris — the first Black woman to be run as vice president on a major party ticket in America — got some unprompted love from Paul when he was asked about voting initiatives that the NBPA has been organizing, sponsoring and supporting.
“We gotta keep talking about it,” Paul said to reporters of the importance of voter turnout.
“It’s a lot of people that we gotta get out to vote… Voter supression is real. They try to make — especially young adults and especially African-Americans — they try to make it to where we can’t vote, but our vote is very important.”
Paul then mentioned Senator Harris by name, even acknowledging the upcoming 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment.
It wasn’t until August 18, 1920 that women were given the right to vote, and that fact wasn’t lost on Paul when he acknowledged Harris’ making history and blazing a trail for Black women who aspire to attain the highest office in the land.
On Tuesday, vice president Joe Biden announced that Harris would be his running mate in the 2020 presidential election — a “huge deal” in the words of Paul.
“A huge shoutout to Kamala Harris, who got the nomination as the running mate for vice president, which is huge and unbelievable,” Paul said.
“It’s the centennial — the 100 year anniversary of the 19th amendment — so to have a black woman running as the vice president is a huge deal and it’s a big day so we all gotta get out and vote and make sure that our vote is heard.”
President Donald Trump has been quite critical of the NBA and its players, most recently calling its players “nasty” and “dumb” for kneeling during the national anthem during the Orlando restart.
It’s probably not difficult to figure out who Paul is going to be casting a vote for come November.
