America was filled with racism in the 1960s.
And Boston was one of the worst cities because it was one of the most segregated cities in America, where their residential neighbourhoods and schools were split up by race.
People were close-minded and bigoted, and for whatever reason, they felt it was appropriate to be racist during sporting events.
For example, the Boston Celtics’ Bill Russell, who was one of the biggest sports stars at the time, had to deal with fans calling him racist names every game — and he played for the home team.
He said in an essay for SLAM magazine that though the organization was great, the Boston “fans” were not.
“The Boston Celtics proved to be an organization of good people — from Walter Brown to Red Auerbach, to most of my teammates. I cannot say the same about the fans or the city. During games people yelled hateful, indecent things: ‘Go back to Africa,’ ‘Baboon,’ ‘C — n,’ ‘Ni — er.’”
So, how did Russell deal with them?
First, he used the indecent comments as fuel to play well. And then he used his success to gain influence and a platform, which he used to talk about the issues Black athletes faced.
Russell also used his platform to put a spotlight on the inequalities in America.
He participated in The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, which advocated for the civil and economic rights of African Americans, and co-led The Cleveland Summit in 1967, which supported Muhammad Ali’s decision not to join the military and fight in the Vietnam War.
Russell’s activism influenced many athletes to use their platform to speak up about injustices in their community. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Craig Hodges, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Carmelo Anthony and Jaylen Brown, to name a few, all followed in the footsteps of Russell.
Unfortunately, societal issues still exist in the NBA and in the world.
Athletes and activists alone are not enough to suffocate them.
But as athletes and activists use their platform to spread awareness about the problems in society, racism, wealth inequality and gender discrimination lose a little bit of oxygen each day.
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