San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich: Unless Race Is Talked About, It's Not Going To Get Better

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich

During a press conference yesterday, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich shared his thoughts on the current #TakeAKnee protests by professional athletes regarding injustices and treatment of black Americans.

Popovich told the press, in part, "There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change."

Obviously, you know, race is the elephant in the room and we all understand that. Unless it is talked about constantly, it’s not going to get better. People get bored. ‘Oh, is it that again. They pulled the race card again. Why do we have to talk about that?’

Well, because it’s uncomfortable. There has to be an uncomfortable element in the discourse for anything to change. You know, whether it’s the LGBT movement, or women’s suffrage, race - it doesn’t matter.

People have to be made to feel uncomfortable, and especially white people, because we’re comfortable. We still have no clue what being born white means. And, if you read some of the recent literature, you realize there really is no such thing as whiteness. We kind of made it up. That’s not my original thought, but it’s true.

It’s hard to sit down and decide that, yes, it’s like you’re at the 50-meter mark in a 100-meter dash. You’ve got that kind of a lead, yes, because you were born white. You have advantages that are systemically, culturally, psychologically there. And they’ve been built up and cemented for hundreds of years.

But many people can’t look at it. It’s too difficult. It can’t be something that’s on their plate on a daily basis. People want to hold their position, people want their status quo, people don’t want to give that up. And until it’s given up, it’s not going to be fixed.

Watch those remarks below, and you can see the full 21-minute speech here.

Gregg Popovich: 'We still have no clue of what being born white means.' pic.twitter.com/whTL7y4ktu

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 25, 2017