Can NBA Players Become Politicians?
That bill is The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping reform package thats been met with Republican intransigence in the Senate over elements that would make it easier to punish police misconduct. The Washington insider charged with leading the way through this labyrinth of democracy as Executive Director of the coalition is James Cadogan, a 39-year-old former official in the civil-rights division of the Obama justice department. He opened up the coalitions second boardroom Zoom last month determined to expand celebrity awareness and activism into policy advocacy. The best part: We didnt have to say, Hey, this is politics, Cadogan says. Its deliberate, us moving into this space. It is new. It is something that nobody has tried before  not just thoughts and prayers or education.  Cadogan worked on the Obama campaign with Addisu Demissie, executive director of More Than a Vote, the political organization of LeBron James, which was originally conceived in early 2020 as a platform for athletes political content and began to focus on Black voter suppression in the lead-up to Election Day. Seemingly overnight, the NBA turned 23 of the leagues arenas and facilities into polling places or voting-related sites, while owners and players began to channel millions into economic empowerment for Black communities. Cadogans work has begun with a kind of training camp for the more traditional skill sets of lobbying. Dozens of NBA players have been invited to policy workshops, like a Zoom call that featured New Jersey Senator Cory Booker previewing the George Floyd Act, four days before Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. But few actually showed up, leaving officials at the NBA players union to text Twitter talking points about how fans could call members of Congress to demand a floor vote. Next, the coalition will try to build what Cadogan calls advocacy scaffolding, for superstars and benchwarmers alike, so that theyd eventually be ready to meet with the likes of Booker face-to-face. On the local level, Donovan Mitchell wouldnt mind taking things offline with the Utah state legislators who are attempting to block children from learning about critical race theory. Its one thing to tweet it  and Im gonna continue to tweet it  but being able to be on the phone and be on these calls with people who do know these things, Mitchell says, means being able to have an impact, myself.  To the Timberwolves superstar Karl-Anthony Towns, who stood behind George Floyds family at a press conference last May while grieving over his mothers death from Covid-19, this crash course in public policy could be a salve for ceaseless conservative attacks on NBA protest. Watching the bubble from afar, Towns was inspired to see hundreds of players go down on one knee for The Star-Spangled Banner before playoff games  and then the politicization kicked in. People are trying to devalue the action of kneeling and those actions during the anthem, he tells me. Its become such a derogatory thing: Kneeling?! They dont care about our flag! They dont care about us! They dont care about our country! Well, no. We actually care about people so much that were trying to make the country better for all of us. Every single one of us, not just for one race or one basketball player.  Towns doesnt sit on the NBA Social Justice Coalition board for the photo-ops or the kumbaya. Hes fed-up enough to put in the work for a modicum of moderate progress in Washington, where hell have to learn how to move past being fed-up all over again: The superstars of the coalition have called for consensus in formally backing a broad version of the Floyd Act, but that legislation is currently on the verge of collapse. The group is also preparing to support voting-rights reform, even as moderates like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin offered watered-down proposals this week. Its not up to us to take deals, but it is politics, Towns admits. The anthem and everything draw attention, but at the end of the day its not getting legislation done, to make the things that we talk about and protest about... into a reality.