Bill Russell still waiting for America to live up to 'All men are created equal' promise

Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell has long been a civil rights activist in the United States. The 11-time NBA champion has often used his platform as a means to bring awareness to the nation's struggles with systemic racism. Russell was once again a vocal figure after protests raged on in all 50 states in the country after the killing of George Floyd on May 25. 

Bill Russell on racism

Bill Russell wrote an op-ed for Boston Global Magazine this week where the NBA legend touched upon the recent turmoil in the country and addressed his experience with racism during the early part of his career in Boston. '“We are living in strange times, but I’ve seen stranger,” Russell wrote. “There’s the kind of strange that means uncommon or out of the ordinary. The COVID-19 pandemic is surely representative of that. Then there’s the kind of strange that means peculiar, perverse, uncomfortable and ill at ease. Now that’s the kind of strange I’ve known my whole life."

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Bill Russell said that it's strange the people in the nation are "fighting each other" instead of fighting the unjust system. Russell claimed the system in the country is flawed and attacks the ones who speak up against the injustices instead of the ones who commit the injustices. He then touched up the ‘All men are created equal' right which is embodied in the United States Declaration of Independence. Russell stated that it is till date an unfulfilled promise which sits right next to the fundamental rights to "Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness."

"I’ve been waiting my whole life for America to live up to that promise," he added. "And the fact that it hasn’t, that in America the systemic and pervasive killing of Black and brown people has never been strange in the ‘out of the ordinary’ sense of the word but only in the ‘uncomfortable and ill at ease’ sense of the word, adds up to nothing."

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Bill Russell took to Twitter to lash out at US President Donald Trump's tweet about the "no kneeling" during the national anthem.  Bill Russell wrote that it takes courage to kneel during the national anthem and there is nothing "disrespectful" or "UnAmerican" about it.

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How many rings does Bill Russell have? Bill Russell highlights

Widely regarded as one the best players in NBA history, Bill Russell played his entire career for the Boston Celtics between 1956 and 1969. Part of the Celtics roster that dominated the NBA in the 1950s and 1960, Russell won 11 NBA championships with the franchise. The 12-time NBA All-Star won five NBA MVP awards in his career. In 1966, Russell was named the head coach of the Boston Celtics, thereby becoming the first African-American to hold a head coaching position in the NBA. He also took charge of Seattle Supersonics and Sacramento Kings. 

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(Image Credits: NBA.com, Bill Russell Twitter)