In a long essay for The Players’ Tribune, the NBA’s Karl-Anthony Towns lamented the “racism” he sees in America today and attacked President Donald Trump for his response to the unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In his August 25 essay, Towns lamented that “racism is still alive” in America today.
The 2016 Rookie of the Year reported that he had conversations with many African Americans both in and outside the league and a consensus opinion is that, in many ways, the U.S. is still just as “racist” as it was before the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Towns also wrote of the shock he experienced last year over the shooting of Philando Castile in St. Paul.
From there, Towns noted that the unrest in Charlottesville didn’t shock him.
“There was one thing I didn’t feel about Charlottesville,” Towns wrote, “I didn’t feel shocked by it.”
“Yeah, I was disappointed but not shocked. It’s not a surprise to me that racism is alive and kicking in 2017,” he added.
The player went on to insist that the “racism” he saw in Charlottesville is a common thing across the nation: “In Charlottesville, I think we saw a more visible form of racism. We don’t see it so public very often, but that kind of hate is sadly … kind of normal. Obviously I don’t mean normal as in acceptable. It’s not. It’s evil. I mean normal as in this is nothing new in our country. It’s something we experience or hear about growing up. America has been struggling with racism since Day One. Our country is built on this. It’s our history.”
Towns went on to criticize President Trump for his reaction to the events in Virginia.
“I was shocked by how our President responded to Charlottesville,” Towns wrote. “Our President was given a layup: Denounce white supremacists. And he couldn’t … and wouldn’t. He missed … he missed badly,” the NBA player insisted.
Despite the fact President Trump did not once come to the support of any racists, white supremacists, or Nazis, Towns felt Trump didn’t do enough to denounce them. Towns continued, “It’s disheartening when our President doesn’t understand his words carry a tremendous amount of weight. It’s really hard to see our President refuse to stand up for what’s right — at a time when the country needs it. Especially for minorities. It’s not like we’re talking about taxes or something. We’re talking about the big issue that has divided the country since its birth.”
While Towns spent half his essay insisting that the country is just as racist as it ever was, later in the piece he says that there are “more of us than there are of them.” He also said that there are more people who “want to understand other people” than those who are racists.
“There are more Americans who want to understand other people,” Towns wrote, “people who look past pigmentation … people who talk with love that can shiver a person’s mind and soul … and people who live to improve not only their families’ lives, but the lives of every family in this beautiful country. There are more of those people than there are people who want to divide, degrade and corrupt us.”
As Towns concluded his essay, he slammed those who might tell him to “stick to sports.”
“Basketball is what I do for a living, not who I am as a man,” he exclaimed before going on to say that he has as much right to spout off on politics as anyone else.
The player ended his piece saying that he hoped Charlottesville might serve as an opportunity for a “more honest” discussion of racism in the country today.
“I want to live my life with love but also with action. I hope to have more conversations and discussions about how celebrate love and reject the type of hate we saw in Charlottesville,” he said.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.