Pistons: As Black men are killed, Casey fears for his young son’s future
DETROIT— Dwane Casey has a firsthand understanding of the plight African-Americans have faced in the United States.
The Detroit Pistons coach grew up in Morganfield, Ky., and he witnessed the Ku Klux Klan ride through his small, rural town while he was in elementary school.
Casey’s school, Dunbar Elementary, integrated with an all-white school following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. He experienced racism both from his classmates and their parents in the 1960s.
The death of George Floyd, a
Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest on Monday, hits close to home for Casey, who was coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2005 to 2007.
Casey provided the following statement Saturday to the Free Press on Floyd’s death.
“Fifty-four years ago, I was an eight-year-old boy living in rural Kentucky when the schools were desegregated. I walked into a white school where I was not wanted nor welcomed. At that time, there were no cellphones to record my treatment, no cable news stations with 24/7 coverage, no social media to record the reality of the situation or offer support nor condemnation. But I can remember exactly how I felt as an eightyear-old child. I felt helpless. I felt as if I was neither seen, nor heard, nor understood. As I have watched the events unfold in the days following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a city where I coached and once called home, I see how many people continue to feel those same feelings — helpless, frustrated, invisible, angry.
“I understand the outrage because it seems the list continues to grow: Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd. The injustices continue to mount and nothing seems to be changing.
“Fifty-four years later, my son is now eight years old and I look at the world he is growing up in and wonder, how much has really changed? How often is he judged on sight? Is he growing up in a world where he is seen, and heard, and understood? Does he feel helpless? Will he be treated like George Floyd or Ahmaud Abrey? What have we really done in the last 54 years to make his eight-year-old world better than mine was? We all have to be and do better.
“We have to change the way we see and hear each other. We have to work together to find solutions to make the justice system just. Black, white and brown people have to work together to find new answers. The only way we can stop the systemic problems that people of colour have faced all our lives is through honesty and transparency. We have to understand why people are at their limit at this moment. It takes empathy, in its truest form. It takes a culture shift, it takes action. Let’s stop the injustice now.”