CHANGE REQUIRES

SELF SACRIFICE

Did the Clipper's players misfire on a prominent and powerful moment in time? I am from the old school and my point of view on this may be antiquated but I say yes they did. Now before you get upset understand that I witnessed the NBA players risk everything in 1964 to stand up for themselves. I witnessed Muhammed Ali lose 3 years for standing up for his beliefs. Jim Brown, Bill Russell and others including many entertainers risk their careers to make change happen via the civil rights movement. I lived during the later portion of Jackie Robinson's career. How about the sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics who raised there fist in solidarity with the Civil Rights movement and were stripped of their medals. These people risked everything to change the world. The Clippers player's risked nothing at all. Absolutely nothing.

I do not want to vilify the victim but my point is we have to stop allowing people to control us with money or opportunity. I appreciate the fact that the Clipper's players did something but my message is directed to the generation my children included, who I would hope have more of a social conscious. We can not let others do our fighting for us. They missed a moment to take control and dictate for themselves what was going to be or not be. This incident transcends basketball and sports and they failed to recognize the moment and their power in that moment. Whether they refused to play or did something else more powerful than what they did prior to game 4.

I know it is easy to sit back and make a judgement without walking in their shoes. However I have walked in similar shoes. I was one of the African American student pioneers that navigated to waters of St Joesph's Prep during the mid 1970's and then on to Wheeling W. VA and the meat grinder of racial intolerance at a tender age. I stood up risking my college career and eventually my life as I was named leader of the blacks on the campus and eventually seen as leader of Black people beyond the campus. It was not until I left that I fully understood the danger but it was part of my nature to stand and fight.

Maybe it was because of the examples I had that I named that I was inclined and able to do what I did. So maybe it is on our generation to provide better examples and support for this younger generation. We tend to criticize them but the apple on the vine should not be blamed for failure to thrive it is the vine that is weak and not providing what they need to thrive. Maybe we have not provided the history, the strategies, the support they will need to create change in a world where progress is needed. But they need to now it requires sacrifice. Freedom is not free and I found the form of protest they made the other night  to be a weak response at best to a powerful moment in time.

My message is we, my generation battled for what we earned and we were at risk; at lunch counters; at bus stations; in our own homes; at churches and it was not easy or comfortable. Pay attention young people to your history and what is required of you as the world moves forward. It is not always about you and your career or your things. Seize the moments as they arrive because they will. We the youth of the Civil Rights movement may not be there to guide you directly but the history we created at great risk to ourselves, families and friends will provide you the guidance you require.

 This was not enough