San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich may not be the most talkative when it comes to in-game interviews, but when asked about real issues, including the state of our country, he is more often than not willing to give a well thought out response.
Prior to yesterday's game against the Utah Jazz, Popovich was asked about the importance of the league's promotion of Black History Month and, once again, he didn't mince words.
According to several outlets, Pop responded by saying it's important to bring attention to the fact that we live in a racist country.
"I think it's pretty obvious. The league is made up of a lot of black guys. To honor [Black History Month] and understand it is pretty simplistic. How would you ignore that? But more importantly, we live in a racist country that hasn't figured it out yet, and it's always important to bring attention to it, even if it angers some people.
"The point is that you have to keep it in front of everybody's nose, so that they understand that it still hasn't been taken care of, and we have a lot of work to do."
Popovich, who has called out President Trump a number of times in the past, also discussed the educational, economical and cultural roadblocks facing minorities in the U.S. and how it's going to take leadership, time and real concern to try to solve.
"If you were born white, you automatically have a monstrous advantage educationally, economically, culturally in this society," Popovich said. "And all the systemic roadblocks that exist, whether it's in a judicial sense, a neighborhood sense with laws, zoning, education -- we have huge problems in that regard that are very complicated, but take leadership, time and real concern to try to solve. It's a tough one because people don't really want to face it. And it's in our national discourse."