INDIANAPOLIS – If it were up to Kevin Pritchard, the current point guard of the Indiana Pacers would be The President of the United States one day.
For now, Brogdon is more than trying to do his part in the fight against social injustice.
And he wants to continue that, in-person, when Pacers teammates start to return to Indianapolis later this month.
“I’ve talked extensively about having a march in Indianapolis, when me and my teammates get back, and the Pacers sort of leading that, me leading that. That would be awesome,” Brogdon shared on a Friday Zoom call with local media.
“With what’s going on right now, a lot of the black community feels that conversations and things like that aren’t enough anymore. We’ve been having conversations for years, now it’s about actions. Now, it’s about solutions.”
Other actions Brogdon sees as musts include exercising your right to vote, particularly at the local level. He says it’s a must to get more ethical people in positions of authority, to better police our own communities.
On his own, Brogdon will be starting his own foundation this summer, which will include a focus on some Indianapolis area schools, with a heavy minority population, in an effort to improve the literacy programs there.
As a pro athlete, Brogdon feels an obligation to be part of the solution, and his background was made for this.
Brogdon’s grandfather was part of the civil rights movement.
That meant for an elementary-aged Brogdon learning about those real-life events carried more weight than his math or science grades.
Pritchard has told Brogdon, who already took part in a protest in Atlanta last weekend, that this is his time to make an impact.
“I think it means that it’s my time to stand up for what I believe in,” Brogdon says. “I think people that know me well know that I’m very much about my people. They know that I’m very much about my family. And they know I’m very much about doing the right thing, having an integrity and character that can influence everybody around you.
“Right now, we need high character people. We need leaders. We need people that stand for the right things and stand to fight for equality for all races, including black people. I think KP knows me well and knows this is something I’m very passionate about, something I stand for and something I’m willing to take the lead on.”
With Brogdon returning to Indy in the coming weeks, that means his professional job is about to start back up again.
Amidst all the chaos in the world right now, Brogdon knows some players are uneasy about heading to Orlando in late July to finish the 2019-20 season, but he also sees a massive positive with it.
“I think that guys across the NBA are very mixed,” the 27-year-old guard says about the return to basketball. “Some guys are like, ‘I’m not playing, I don’t want to play. This is not the right time to try and distract us from what is going on with the real issues. I’m not going to prioritize basketball over people’s health in general.’
“Then there’s the other group of guys, ‘Being a black man we have way less opportunities to make this type of money in our lifetime and the things we can do with this type of money to impact our world, impact our families, generational wealth and impact the community is far greater, then sitting out, not getting paid, and then not having the means to help people.’
“Honestly, I see a lot of value in both arguments. Right now, I definitely lean towards having the money, with my sort of philanthropic outreach that I want to do, and the stuff I’m doing right now, you have to have finances to do that, have a platform to do that and whatever I do with the NBA I have to have a reputation where people want to work with me, where people know if I commit to something, I’m going to finish that.”
And the man who traded for him will be right alongside supporting.
