On Tuesday — National Voter Registration Day — Boston Celtics head Coach Brad Stevens was asked about the the team’s individual statuses as registered voters.
Stevens seized on the inquiry as an opportunity to talk about Boston Celtics United, the decade-long, $25 million pledge to address racial injustice and social inequality in the greater Boston area the Celtics committed to earlier in the month.
The program, which focuses on “issues that have impacted the Black community as a result of the nation’s long-term history of systemic racism,” according to an article published by the team, identifies a number of key areas of interventions to improve local conditions, voting a principle one of them.
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“Part of our rollout that we had a few weeks ago [of Boston Celtics United], the voting initiatives [are] one of our pillars of that,” explained the Celtics coach.
“We started on the Celtics.com voter registration area that was connected with When We all Vote. And we presented that to our team a few weeks ago during the pause, and then we all worked together to make sure we were all registered ourselves and make sure we’re all set. We realized that it’s extremely important [to] continue to talk about to make sure each of our voices are all heard in this election, not only the presidential, but in every other part of it.”
“And I think that that’s something that’s really important,” he added.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 22, 2020
“We’ve … spent a lot of time talking about [voter registration],” noted Stevens.
“I was in the meeting with a couple of players in the ownership group where the different voting initiatives were discussed; it may be an even more intense level than we have before. And it’s a huge emphasis with this league, a huge emphasis with the leaders of this league, and we make sure we’re doing our part.”
Given that voting — and the ability to do so freely and safely — should be a non-partisan issue that undergirds our democracy, it stands to reason that an informed citizenry’s best tool for change is their vote.
Kudos to the Celtics for their support of this most vital part of our civil society — without it, lasting change would be so much harder to make.
