As protests across the country devolved into riots Friday night, Dwane Casey looked at his eight-year-old son and thought about change. He thought about himself as an eight-year-old, the fear he felt walking into a desegregated school in Kentucky for the first time, and how much our world has changed since then. And how much it hasn't.
"Now is the time for real change," Casey said in a statement the Pistons released Saturday.
Amid a country once again divided, in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis, this was Casey's way of trying to bring us together.
"Like everyone else, I thought, what can I do as a small part of the crowd to say something or do something to make a small impact?" Casey said Monday on the Jamie and Stoney Show. "I think if everyone – black, white or whatever – can do just a small part to try to help change the hearts of someone next to them that doesn't understand or doesn't feel or doesn't see the differences and the problems that we have in our society, it can make a difference."
That's what Casey wants for his son's generation. In some ways, he saw it in his own. When he walked into school that day, as white parents outside held up signs in protest, and students inside echoed their hate, he was helplessly alone. Gradually, the hate softened.
"The nervousness, the anxiety, you can only imagine trying to learn in that environment. It was tough. But the beautiful thing about it was, some of the kids I fought with after getting called the N-word every single day, are some of my friends today," Casey said. "They have apologized profusely for their treatment and not understanding, and they tell the story to their kids about the fights we had and the arguments we had going through that process of them getting to know me.
"I'll always cherish their friendships because I know they understand who I am as a man and as a person, not as a basketball player or a coach."
But here we are, some 50 years later, and the hate still exists. While most of the feedback Casey received from his statement was positive, some of it wasn't.
"The sad thing is, I tried to express it in words and there were still negative posts: 'Well, teach your son not to use fake $20 bills.' It was sick, some sick things. So again, we have a long way to go," Casey said. "A long way to go."
And Casey is committed to doing his part, however small, to help us get there.
"I know I'm going to be criticized. 'Don't be a politician, just coach the baseball team.' But I wouldn't be a man, a black man, if I didn't step up and have a small platform, just a small one, to say something to hopefully touch somebody's heart if they're actively listening," he said. "Again, it may not happen in my lifetime, but hopefully in their kid's lifetime it can change."
Casey also touched on the NBA's potential return this season, and whether it will include the Pistons. As much as he'd like the chance to come back and play, he expects the league to opt for a 22-team format.
"If they don't bring us back, I just hope they will give us the opportunity to practice, to work these next few weeks while those teams are competing down in Orlando, because I think it'd be terrible for us to be off from March 11 to (potentially December)," Casey said. "That's going to put as at an unfair disadvantage to be able to come back and compete, so hopefully they allow us training camp."
