Ex-UK player Dwane Casey sees little progress on racism. ‘What have we really done?’
Former University of Kentucky player and assistant coach Dwane Casey issued a statement Saturday on the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in police custody earlier in the week in Minneapolis. The statement breathes life into a comment attributed to a 19th century French novelist and journalist, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: The more things change, the more they remain the same.
The killing of Floyd, which led to a murder charge against a Minneapolis police officer, sparked protests in several U.S. cities, including Lexington and Louisville. Now the coach of the Detroit Pistons, Casey has seen protests in Detroit.
For Casey, it brought back memories of integrating his elementary school in Morganfield, Ky., in 1965 as an 8-year-old.
There was no mass media presence to record his experience, Casey said.
“But I can remember exactly how I felt as an 8-year-old child,” he said in the statement. “I felt helpless. I felt as if I were neither seen nor heard nor understood.”
There were people who protested students from the all-back Morganfield Dunbar school who were transferred to the previously all-white Morganfield Elementary. Casey recalled the presence of the Kentucky National Guard and protesters waving signs. Entering the third grade, he heard the n-word. “A lot,” Casey said Saturday. “A lot.”
Fights broke out in the first few weeks of school.
“We were kids,” he said. “They didn’t know us, and we didn’t know them.
“The beautiful thing about it was a lot of the kids saying those things then are some of my best friends today. It shows you the fear of the unknown is the most lethal weapon as far as race is concerned.”
The gruesome killing of Floyd — video showed a policeman pressing his knee onto the man’s neck and ignoring the man’s I-can’t-breathe pleas — sparked similar feelings of desperation he felt as an 8-year-old, Casey said in the statement.
“I see how many people continue to feel those same feelings: helpless, frustrated, invisible, angry,” Casey said. “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.”
Casey wondered how much society in this country has changed since he integrated a school as an 8-year-old. Adding poignancy to the statement, Casey’s son, Zachary, is 8 years old.
“Is he growing up in a world where he is seen, and heard and understood?” Casey asked in the statement. “Does he feel helpless? Will he be treated like George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery? What have we really done in the last 54 years to make his 8-year-old world better than mine was? We all have to be and do better.”
Zachary, who turns 9 on June 30, attends Detroit Country Day. Coincidentally, that is the alma mater of former college basketball standouts Chris Webber and Shane Battier.
“Well, people are going to say, your son is going to a private school now,” Casey said. “Still, times haven’t changed. I hope he’s not looked at as a stereotype. … You pray that generation doesn’t have to go through the fears we went through 54 years ago.
“There’s been a lot of strides. But we have a lot of strides to go.”
Casey defined the strides that have been made in terms of greater opportunity.
Of Zachary, he said, “As long as he works hard and does well in school, he’ll have opportunity. If he wants to be a doctor or a lawyer, he’ll have that opportunity if he works hard.”
Casey said he disapproved of the violence that has been part of some protests.
“Violence doesn’t cure years and years of systemic racism,” he said. “Violence is kind of the frustration that comes about from it. I hope we don’t get that all mixed up with what the real problem is. But it’s not the answer to cure the problem.”
Casey suggested the coronavirus pandemic could help unite people. COVID-19 does not discriminate.
“I hurt like you hurt,” Casey said. “We are the same people except for skin color.”
Casey, who played for UK from 1975-76 through 1978-79, credited basketball with helping him overcome this country’s systemic racism.
“Basketball allowed me to get above it,” he said. “What about my cousins? What about my friends? Those are the ones you worry about.”
Casey statement
Here is the full text of Dwane Casey’s statement released Saturday:
“54 years ago I was an 8-year-old boy living in rural Kentucky when the schools were desegregated. I walked into a white school where I wasn’t wanted nor welcomed. At that time there were no cell phones 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 8-year-old child. I felt helpless. I felt as if I were neither seen nor heard nor understood. As I have watched the events unfold in the days after 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.
“54 years later, my son is now 8 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 Arbery? What have we really done in the last 54 years to make his 8-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 color have faced all of 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, let’s not allow another generation to continue to live in a world where they are treated as unequal. Now is the time for real change.”
Calipari statement
UK basketball coach John Calipari posted a statement online Friday night. It read:
“Like many of you, I’ve been watching what’s been going on the last couple of days and have had some time to think about it and pray about it. All I can tell you is I’m sick.
“Whether you’re talking George Floyd or a number of other incidents that have happened in our country and in our backyard, I’m sick because I cannot believe one human being could treat another human being the way we’ve seen with some of these injustices.
“I don’t have all the answers. I wish I had some way to bring everyone together. But I do have one thought: It is wrong, it is unacceptable, and I am horrified by what I have seen. This cannot continue.
“I addressed it with our team this evening. I want to keep that conversation private, but what I will say is we need to have an open dialogue and conversation about these issues. The only way we can move forward as a nation is to be open and honest with ourselves.”
Stoops statement
UK football coach Mark Stoops also issued a statement Friday night. It read:
“As so many of us have seen and felt, I deeply hurt for the injustice we have in our country. We must find a way to treat each other the way we want to be treated, with unity and respect. As a nation, we must overcome it. And we must begin now.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2020 at 2:17 PM.
