Pistons' Dwane Casey: As NBA Coach I Can 'Help and Get Someone to Listen'

Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said he wants to help lead by example in addressing racial injustice in the United States. 

"I've been through segregation, forced integration, and I think as an NBA coach we have a small platform to be able to help and get someone to listen," Casey said Wednesday, per the Detroit Free Press' Omari Sankofa II:

Casey was part of a Pistons contingent marching in protests around Detroit.

In a statement on the Pistons' site, Casey recounted how he was eight years old when schools in Kentucky desegregated in 1966. He said when he began attending a formerly all-white school he "felt helpless" and "felt as if I was neither seen, nor heard, nor understood."

Casey added that in light of recent events he pondered whether enough progress has been made since then:

"Fifty-four years later, my son is now eight years old and I look at the world he is growing up in and wonder, how much has really changed? How often is he judged on sight?  Is he growing up in a world where he is seen, and heard, and understood?  Does he feel helpless?  Will he be treated like George Floyd or Ahmaud Abrey?  What have we really done in the last 54 years to make his eight-year-old world better than mine was?  We all have to be and do better."

Protests have been ongoing around the country, with the killing of George Floyd leading many people to demonstrate publicly.

On May 25, Minneapolis police officers approached Floyd in his car while investigating an alleged forgery in progress. After Floyd was removed from the car, officer Derek Chauvin was shown on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd died at a local hospital.

Chauvin was first charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has since upgraded his charge to second-degree murder, while the other three officers involved in the arrest were charged with aiding and abetting. All four officers were also fired.

The killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor have also helped fuel the sense of urgency and demands for change among protesters.

In February, Arbery was jogging around a residential neighborhood in Georgia when a father and son began following him in their truck. A third man used his truck to help pen Arbery in. Travis McMichael exited one truck with a shotgun and got into a confrontation with Arbery. McMichael fired three shots and Arbery was killed.

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan Jr. were all charged in Arbery's murder in May.

The FBI opened an investigation into Taylor's death last month. Louisville police officers forcibly entered Taylor's home in March to serve a search warrant and shot her at least eight times. Her family filed a wrongful death suit, alleging the officers unlawfully entered her home and failed to announce themselves as the police.