KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Donovan Mitchell wants you to understand that while sports have long been an escape for many from issues of racism and injustice, he isn’t able to escape those things.
“We don’t really care if you don’t like it,” he said on Saturday. “This all could stop and at the end of the day I’m still a Black male. That’s something that people don’t really quite get, no matter the money, the name.”
Mitchell said that he recognizes that his celebrity could afford him privileges that other people don’t enjoy, but the reason that he and other NBA players are using their platforms to speak loud and often is because there are generations of minorities who continue to live in fear, without an escape, constantly reminded of their color.