Celts’ Grousbeck has ‘a lot to learn’ on racism, is ‘ready to start’

Boston Celtics co-owner Wyc Grousbeck has come to the realization that he has not done enough to fight racism — and more importantly, that he does not yet know enough to properly begin.

Sometimes, realizing you don’t know enough about a problem is the first step to doing something about it, and as obvious as that may sound, it’s a more common problem than many realize.

And lately, many a person who has been shielded from an all-too-common outcome in interactions between police and people of color in the U.S. have been realizing they do not know enough about how to solve the disproportionate use of force minorities regularly encounter.

Boston Celtics’ lead Governor Wyc Grousbeck joined the ranks of such persons recently, realizing in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the team’s players’ reactions that he needed to do more.

So he made a start, even if a brief one.

In a 19-second video, he made a point of adding his voice to the multitude demanding change, a move born out of the realization that he did not know as much as he thought he did.

“There were a few steps that led up to it and one was spending last weekend not being able to sleep and thinking about that I didn’t know what was going on, that I had not learned enough and that I had not done enough since 2016, when I felt good standing with the guys,” Grousbeck explained via the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn.

“I was very open in my support in whatever they were going to do with the anthem,” he added.

“In the time since 2016, I think I may have gotten complacent or less focused,” related the Celtics co-owner. “I told myself that things were OK. And I might have been fooling myself.”

“There are millions of people that feel the same way right now,” Grousbeck explained.

Indeed; across the U.S., perhaps more than ever before, it seems there is a greater degree of support there is a problem, something which inexplicably took until now to arrive at a consensus.

Some, justifiably, are skeptical we will arrive at substantive change even now, such as Boston icon Bill Russell. And with the life that man has lived, it’s hard to blame him.

But it would be foolish to ignore the moment’s potential for change too, even if history tells us expectations should be tempered.

“I have a lot to learn and I’m ready to start.”

Thus spake Grousbeck, and hopefully many others this week.

“I felt so strongly about doing the video that I actually did it right after I hung up a [Zoom] call with the team,” Grousbeck offered.

“What do we do as the Celtics? When you realize the Celtics have led the way in the fight against racism since the 1950s and here I am supposed to be continuing the legacy of the Celtics, I’ve got to do everything I can to maintain and enhance what the Celtics are all about.”

From drafting the first African American player in NBA history, to building a dynasty led by the first Black head coach in modern North American sports history, the Celtics have done the work existence in one of the north’s most segregated cities has required.

But that work is far from done, which Grousbeck has realized.

“It becomes pretty obvious that being a bystander isn’t good enough,” he noted … You have to step forward and actually make statements and then do things that are effective. That’s the next step. A statement is one thing, but a commitment to a decade of making things better is next.”

Grousbeck and the Celtics more geneally are now gathering information, and learning how to begin to engage with the problem of systemic racism in a productive, proactive way.

Even those among us who have been organizing for decades have lessons to learn in the coming weeks, and those of us who are just dipping our toes in water need good role models to decenter themselves, ask productive questions, and to learn effective strategies.

But learning what you know — and more importantly, what you don’t — is the most important step one can take to solving a problem.

[lawrence-related id=36555,36545,36537,36528]