Ian Begley, SNY.tv | Twitter |
Some of Isiah Thomas' earliest memories are of he and his family protesting systemic racism. Thomas' mother, Mary Thomas, was an activist on Chicago's West Side, working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Jesse Jackson and Black Panther chairman Fred Hampton. So the entire Thomas family was active in protests and demonstrations against inequality in Chicago.
"Activism was the family business. We did not have babysitters. So every protest, march, rally, riot, mom was like, 'Alright ya'll, let's go,'" Thomas says. "So we went everywhere (to join protests) together as a family."
Thomas experienced three major riots during his childhood on the West Side between 1966 and 1969.
He still remembers when a police officer pointed a gun at him and his brother during the Chicago riots in 1968, sparked, in part, by Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Thomas was seven years old at the time, and he and his brother were out past the mandated curfew.
He recalls seeing the barrel of a tank from the National Guard pointed at his home during the same riots.
"The barrel of the tank swerved around and was aimed right at our house as the troops marched in to secure the West Side of Chicago. This is how I grew up," Thomas, the former Knicks president and coach and current NBA TV and Turner studio analyst, said during a phone interview this week. "My family and I have been in this fight for freedom and citizenship and equal rights since I was born. I don't remember anything else."
Over the past few weeks, protesters have convened in cities and communities across the country to take action against systemic racism and inequality. In some instances, those protests and demonstrations have turned into violent clashes with police and looting.
It's something that Thomas has seen before -- whether as a child growing up on Chicago's West Side or as one of the most famous basketball players on the planet. Often, past protests or calls for change lasted for a few weeks but don't produce tangible change.
Thomas is hopeful that the current social movement against systemic racism and police brutality will be different.
"While we're dealing with police brutality, the fact that we're also invoking and talking about systemic racism and its effect on the people makes me optimistic," Thomas says. "Because we, as the classified blacks in this country, the young people, have been joined by the classified whites and people of all other races in this country. They've joined us in the fight for equality in mass protest across the globe like I've never seen before in my life.
"The systemic racism game that you play in America -- the world, the international community is saying stop it, and let these people go," Thomas adds. "Because our brothers and sisters of all races are standing with us. This is the most optimistic I've been in a long time in this country about getting to equality."
Thomas has experienced racism throughout his whole life -- whether it was as a star player at St. Joseph High School (which was in the Chicago suburbs, a 90-minute commute from his home), Indiana University or in the boardrooms of companies he's worked for after retiring from the NBA.
"Really when you get down to it, in this America, all of us... are infected by this systemic racism that we all experience. I just don't experience it, you experience it too," Thomas says. "The experiences may be different. If you're having a good experience and I'm having a bad experience with systemic racism, you're still having an experience with it. And I think what we're all demanding is, 'Can we all be equal? Can we get rid of this race game, this color game that we play with eachother?'"
Thomas hopes that today's generation can have a better, more accurate understanding of the role race has played in American history.
"Young people are demanding that history gets told accurately now. Because I think we all have to agree, in this country, all of us, people of all races, have been miseducated about each other in this American system," Thomas says. "If we can start from there, start learning each other's true history, we can live up to the ideals and goals of becoming the great American society that we all aspire to be, and be a part of."
Video: Melo could be a free agency target for the Knicks
Speaking of young people, Thomas, a Hall of Fame guard, appreciates the conversations happening among current NBA players about the best way to produce tangible change to police brutality and systemic racism.
Some players, including Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving and Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley, have discussed the possibility of boycotting the restart of the 2019-20 NBA season.
"I never wanted to be put in a box on the court (as a pure point guard) or off the court (as being recognized solely as an athlete)," Thomas says. "So when I look at players today, I say they are sons and daughters, they are mothers and fathers, they are citizens, and then they are athletes. So they have multitudes.
"We can be citizens and we can also be athletes, and you don't have to be one or the other. You can be both and there's a movement that's going on in this country. What society has said is that systemic racism at all levels is bigger than sports. It's bigger than the game. Because right now it's about getting America right. And our sports personalities are speaking to getting America right. These are the young people right now that truly have a chance to change the world forever.
"The way I look at it, if we're looking at four quarters of this game -- those around at the inception in 1776, they pushed to the first quarter, those generations did what they could do; then you get to the Black Codes and Jim Crow, that generation has pushed it as far as they could take it; then you get to civil rights, voting rights, our generation pushed it as far as they could go and continue to push for policy changes in Congress.
"Now we're in the fourth quarter and there's five minutes to go in this game and guess what, the people that are out on the street protesting with us, they have a shot at winning. They have a shot at changing America forever. So as a citizen, absolutely you want to be a part of that. Because it's your generation.
"But then you have sports, which is a part of the fabric of society. And of course sports heals. So the athlete right now, they have a duality of being a citizen and also being in the business of sports.
"They're having meaningful dialogue, discussion and thought around what's next -- and this is good. Because this isn't an either/or question.
"This is what America is all about. We debate, we think. LeBron James, he's a critical thinker. He's thinking about, 'How can we make it better?' Austin Rivers, I read what he had to say. I read what Kyrie and Avery Bradley had to say. I saw Dwight Howard. Guess what? None of them are wrong. All of them are right. And they are thinking through the process."
One of the NBA storylines during the recent protests had to do with the Knicks, Thomas' old team.
Knicks owner James Dolan received media criticism, including from former players, over a decision not to release a statement in the wake of George Floyd's death. Per an ESPN report, some players and MSG employees were furious about the decision. Dolan explained the decision in internal emails and released a statement roughly two weeks after Floyd's death, on the day of his funeral. Some equated the Knicks not releasing a statement with Dolan being a racist.
Thomas was asked about that characterization.
"I would just say, from everything that I've seen in terms of his hiring practices with the New York Knicks, his hiring practices have been far more greater than a lot of owners of sports franchises who may say the right things but in terms of their hiring practices," Thomas said of Dolan's Knicks, who had the NBA's first Black team president, GM and head coach in Steve Mills, Scott Perry and David Fizdale.
"His hiring practices can stand up against anyone in sports when you talk about the New York Knicks and race."