He has remained true to being an advocate for voting rights, so when Doc Rivers was asked Saturday if he had met Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the Clippers coach responded by lamenting how the fight for Black people and other people of color to vote continues, something the iconic congressman who died Friday fought for in the 1960s.
“Really sad day for our country,” Rivers said to the media via Zoom conference call. “What’s amazing is when you think about right now, some of the stuff that John Lewis was fighting for, we’re still fighting for it. Voter suppression right now is at an all-time high. It’s amazing how hard …
“We have a group of people who are trying to get people not to vote. Latinos, Blacks and young people are the targets. That’s who they are trying to get not to vote. And it’s amazing when you think about how long ago that was and yet we’re still fighting that fight.”
Rivers recalled meeting Lewis when the then guard played for the Atlanta Hawks in the ’80s and early part of the ’90s, and how it left an indelible mark on him when it came to voting.
Rivers said “it is a big deal” to hear about the passing of Lewis, who survived a savage beating in 1965 at a Selma, Ala., bridge during the movement for Black people to have the right to vote.
Rivers recalled going on a campaign trip with Andrew Young, who was running to be the governor of Georgia after having been the mayor of Atlanta, along with Lewis. Lewis and Young had been friends and had marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights during the ‘60s.
Rivers said they flew from Atlanta to Albany, Ga., to attend a speech Young was giving at an “all-white church,” and that Young gave an “absolutely amazing speech” and the “crowd was going crazy.”
On the flight back to Atlanta, Rivers said Young asked the young player what he thought of the speech.
“I jokingly said, ‘Well, Mr. Young, I thought the speech was great, but I don’t think you’re getting one vote from that church,’ ” Rivers recalled. “And everybody started laughing. John Lewis piped in and says, ‘Well, we’re not trying to get all of them. We’re just trying to get one at a time, and eventually it will be all of them.’ I thought that was just one powerful statement.”
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Former President Obama addresses mourners during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Former President George W. Bush speaks during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Former President Clinton speaks during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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A woman stands during the funeral for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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A military honor guard moves the casket of Rep. John Lewis into Ebenezer Baptist Church for his funeral in Atlanta. (Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)
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Mourners stand outside Ebenezer Baptist Church during the funeral of Rep. John Lewis in Atlanta. (Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)
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Samuel Lewis, brother of John Lewis, attends the congressman’s funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Tybre Faw was moved by the reading of John Lewis’ favorite poem, “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley, during the funeral service for the late congressman at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Mourners attend the funeral service for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Civil rights leader the Rev. James Lawson speaks during the funeral service for Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms sits with her husband, Derek, during the funeral for the Rep. John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Members of the Congressional Black Caucus surround the flag-draped casket of civil rights pioneer Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who died July 17, as he lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Monday, July 27, 2020. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
(Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo)
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Members of the U.S. Capitol Police honor guard stand near the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., on Monday in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo)
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The flag-draped casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is carried by a joint services military honor guard up the steps of the East front steps of Capitol Hill in Washington Monday. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)
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The hearse with the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., drives on 16th Street, renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza, near the White House in Washington, DC.. ( Alex Brandon/Pool Photo)
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People pay respects to Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state in the Capitol Rotunda, Monday in Washington. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo)
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks to family members in the Rotunda of the U.S., Capitol, during a service for Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Monday in Washington. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo)
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John-Miles Lewis touches the casket of his father, the late Rep. John Lewis, D-GA, a key figure in the civil rights movement in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo)
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Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-NY, raises his hands as Amazing Grace is played during the ceremony for the late Rep. John Lewis in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Matt McClain/Pool Photo)
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Supreme Court associate justice Sonia Sotomayor pauses at the flag-draped casket of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., as he lies in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. (Shawn Thew/Pool Photo)
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A man places flower petals on the Edmund Pettus Bridge ahead of Rep. John Lewis’ casket. (Brynn Anderson/AP Photo)
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Fraternity members sing in front of the casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, during a service celebrating “The Boy from Troy”. (Brynn Anderson/AP)
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The body of Congressman John Lewis arrives at the Alabama Capitol. (Julie Bennett/AP)
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With the Capitol Dome in the background, U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2017. (Lawrence Jackson / Associated Press)
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John Lewis, then chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, is beaten by an Alabama state trooper as the police break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala., with billy clubs and violence March 7, 1965. Lewis’ skull was fractured. (Associated Press)
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Leading a 50th anniversary march in Selma, Ala., in 2015, President Obama holds hands with Rep. John Lewis and Amelia Boynton Robinson, who were both beaten on “Bloody Sunday” in 1965. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)
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President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rep. John Lewis during a 2011 ceremony in the East Room of the White House. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
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Rep. John Lewis poses for a portrait ahead of the 2017 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Lewis spoke at the festival about “March,” a graphic memoir trilogy based on the civil rights movement and Lewis’ life in Alabama. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)
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Rep. John Lewis is arrested by U.S. Capitol Police during a 2013 demonstration calling for the House to take up immigration reform legislation. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
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Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), center, and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), right, co-chairs of the civil rights task force of the Congressional Black Caucus, join other members of the House to express disappointment in the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision that a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
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Rep. John Lewis speaks to gun control activists outside the Capitol as House Democrats stage a 2016 sit-in on the House floor to demand a vote for gun control measures days after a massacre at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
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Rep. John Lewis speaks in 2013 during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
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Rep. John Lewis stands in front of a quote of his in the Civil Rights Room at the Nashville Public Library. (Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)
Clippers seek to get groove back
The Clippers had been hitting their stride before the coronavirus outbreak shut down the NBA on March 11, winning seven of their last eight games.
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were fully healthy and the Clippers were starting to integrate forward Marcus Morris (acquired from the Knicks) and guard Reggie Jackson (picked up after a buyout from the Pistons).
They had the second-best record (44-20) in the Western Conference behind the Lakers (49-14).
George said it was “a little frustrating” to have the season placed on pause, but he does see some benefits for the Clippers as they prepare for the NBA restart to the season at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
“We played ourselves into that chemistry, into that zone we were in. We were getting guys healthy,” George said Saturday morning on a video conference call with reporters. “That was really the team coming together. We added Reggie, we added Marcus and we were starting to mold and shape and learn each other. It was tough to take this little break.
“But I think ultimately it’s going to pay off. Again, we had so many guys dealing with little nicks and bruises. We were one of the teams that could have benefitted off of the healing process and coming together healthy. So this break did wonders for this group, and we’re going to pick up where we left off at.”
Etc.
Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell posted on his Instagram account that his reason for leaving the bubble Friday was because his grandmother had passed away.
“Don’t worry Ma Ma your grandson on the way,” Harrell wrote. He continued, “I’m not built for this I can’t stop crying.”
When Harrell returns, as is expected by the team, the NBA’s health and safety protocols requires the center — who averages 18.4 points off the bench — to quarantine between four and 10 days when he returns to the bubble.
“This is obviously a matter at home that he did need to go to,” Rivers said. “So, we’re just going to wait for him. Like, when he needs to get back, he’ll be back.”
