Former New York Knicks coach David Fizdale has called on whites to stand alongside blacks in the fight against police brutality and discrimination against African Americans in an editorial that was published Tuesday in The Undefeated.
“These problems won’t go anywhere until all the whites of conscience and / or influence stay with us, march with us, vote with us and kneel with us. Otherwise, hatred and discrimination will continue to kneel on us. “wrote Fizdale.
Fizdale opened the piece by explaining that he and his wife will welcome their first child, a boy, this year. He said it is his responsibility to use his platform to speak out against racial injustice so that his son will grow up in a better world.
“Nobody should live in fear of speaking out against injustice,” wrote Fizdale. “We cannot erase the past or the present, but it is our responsibility to shape the future for our people. Whether it is police brutality and the criminal justice system, health care and food discrimination, education and economic inequalities or armed violence, they need And we must be able to guide our communities with class and dignity. Most importantly, we must be able to look proudly at our sons and daughters when they ask, “Dad, what did you do to help? ‘ “
Fizdale wrote that he and many of his black colleagues fear talking about racial issues or protesting inequality over the threat of losing their livelihood. He wrote of the internal struggle he faced in potentially sharing the same fate as Colin Kaepernick, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Muhammad Ali, who have seen “their careers damaged by protesting against injustice”.