76ers Doc Rivers brings black history lessons together at camp

CHARLESTON, SC (AP) — Doc Rivers has quietly used his platform as an NBA coach to fight bigotry and racial injustice, campaign for politicians he believes in, and advocate for social change on topics ranging from poverty to police brutality.

Sometimes his speeches sound like someone running for office. Could Rivers, 60, the son of a Chicago police officer, one day demand change like a true politician?

“Oh God, no. I wouldn’t win, number one,” Rivers said. “And number two, that’s not what I want to be.”

Rivers is good at wading into political waters—and the older he gets, and the more he learns about contemporary issues and the black history that matters deeply to him, the more he talks. With Donald Trump. In case of police misconduct. Of the horrors of racism that shadowed him throughout his life. At the idea that even as the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, it can still be difficult to find his place as a black man in America.

“When you hear ‘America First,’ it scares me because I’m black and it doesn’t include me,” Rivers said last week in an interview with Associated Press. “I want everyone to be included. I want us all to function with each other.”

Rivers has become an agent of change in the NBA and has found his voice as an activist, trying to contribute perhaps more to the league than he already has, first as an All-Star point guard and then with a coaching career that includes the 2008 championship .with Boston and a spot this year on the list of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history. That reach begins at home — or perhaps, at this point, on the road — where Rivers uses training camp not only as the usual time to revisit the X’s and O’s, but also as a daily history lesson. The Sixers practiced at The Citadel, the military college where tanks, jets and POW plaques dot the campus, an education that was part of Rivers’ plan to squeeze more of the camp out of basketball.

“It’s all good for us,” Rivers said.

The Sixers usually hold camp at their compound in New Jersey, but Rivers wanted to strengthen the team’s bond with a trip. The Sixers gathered last week for team nights, played card games and video games and had serious conversations, the type of daily activities largely postponed the past two seasons due to COVID-19 protocols.

“When you have camp at home, you don’t get that,” Rivers said. “They go home at the end of practice and don’t spend time with each other.”

Rivers was a point guard for the Knicks in the early 1990s when the team held camp at the College of Charleston. Then coach Pat Riley had the players walk from the team hotel to the arena.

The 76ers stayed on the team bus last week.

Rivers and the Sixers organized field trips to the Old Slave Mart Museum, often staffed by people who trace their history to the enslaved people of Charleston, and to the Avery Institute of African American History and Culture. Citadel President General Glenn Walters and retired professor and historian Bernard Powers spoke with the team.

This week went beyond basketball. Dr. Bernard Powers led the team through Charleston’s landmarks, including The Old Slave Mart Museum, the soon-to-open International African American Museum (@iaamuseum) and the Avery Research Center. Many thanks to all our hosts and educators. pic.twitter.com/0vmYxxxSsp

— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 2, 2022

“My people, my Africans coming here, the people who gave their lives for us to be in this position, it was good to learn about all that,” said center Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon and recently became a citizen of the USA.

Powers said by phone that he spoke with the Sixers at their team hotel about topics such as Charleston’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, the slave revolt of 1739 and the descendants of enslaved people, known as Gullah, who live in small island communities , spread over 425 miles (684 kilometers) of the South Atlantic coast of the United States.

“It was the port where a very disproportionate number of Africans were brought,” Powers said. “This place, more than any other, may very likely be the source of their ancestry. They could think of a possible personal connection to this place.

Rivers believed the experiences resonated with a team full of 20-year-olds to veterans on the coaching staff.

“The teaching of American history is under attack right now. And it’s not black history or slavery teaching, it’s American history,” Rivers said. “And so I was amazed. The first thing they taught me that day was how many players, and not just players, coaches, came up to me and said, “Wow, I was never taught that in my history classes.”

Rivers cites learning about shameful historical chapters like the Tulsa Rays massacre as an adult instead of learning about white mobs in school as one of the reasons he’s pushing for more black history to be taught in all schools.

“You have to know your history. You really should,” Rivers said. “Can you imagine if we weren’t taught the history of Germany and the Holocaust? There really is no difference. I want to make sure we are being taught the same story.

History matters, but today’s headlines worry Rivers.

Before taking questions from reporters after Wednesday’s practice at The Citadel, Rivers addressed the death of a 14-year-old shot in the chest near a high school field in Northwest Philadelphia. The shooting happened hours after Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order banning guns and deadly weapons from indoor and outdoor recreation areas in the city, including parks, basketball courts and swimming pools.

Rivers, as in the past, has called for stricter gun laws.

“Obviously if somebody knew the answer, we would try to find the answer there, you know, other than taking guns off the street,” Rivers told reporters. “But that’s too political. So we have to figure it out.

Rivers mentioned several times during his interview with the AP that he doesn’t want to get “too political,” but state issues are important to him. He was invited before the 2020 election to speak at a Joe Biden rally after the Democratic presidential nominee used Rivers’ words about the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in his own speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, calling for racial unity. Rivers later condemned the January 6 riot attack on the US Capitol, although he said at the time that “democracy will prevail”.

“I wasn’t before” a politician, Rivers said. “I’ve always been aware of politics, I’ve always been involved. But what made me get involved is that now we have this division of the races, pitting races against each other.

Rivers serves on the board of the NBA Social Justice Coalition. The advocacy organization called on members of Congress to support an executive order designed to improve police accountability. Rivers was in Washington when Biden signed the order on the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. The order was intended to reflect the challenges of addressing racism, excessive use of force and public safety as Congress deadlocks on tougher measures.

“I think we need police reform,” Rivers said. “Our training needs to be better. What bothers me is that everyone should want this, including the police.

The Sixers coach said today’s NBA players are more politically aware and involved in social change than when he played in the 1980s and 1990s, but he wants more from wealthy players, especially those with millions of followers on social media, to talk about the thorny current of events. Rivers talked to the Sixers about the power of the vote — the NBA does not schedule games this season on Nov. 8, which is Election Day — but would not force its players to vote.

But it can make them listen.