TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Race in America is at the forefront of the conversation for change, especially with the recent conviction of Derek Chauvin.
It’s more than just a game for Greg Johnson Jr. who runs the B.A.L.L. Clinic in Tucson.
“Ball and Life Lessons---and that's like the core value of the explaining was just helping parents with their kid because you know you have troubled teens and things of that nature. If you don't keep your kids in sports is easier for them to get into other things,” Greg Johnson Jr.,
When it comes to topics like race in America, the coach and mentor said basketball serves as a connecting element for kids of all backgrounds.
“The conversation might come up with you and then you have to let them know kind of what you feel about it and why you think it's wrong or you know right is right and wrong is wrong, no matter the race,” said Johnson Jr.
His son Greg Johnson III agrees.
“It just brings me, my friends, together because all my friends I played the play basketball or all different races and it's just it like shows them, what's right and what's wrong,” said Johnson III.
Johnson Jr. explained athletes like LeBron James are vocal about the issue because their lives don't stop on the court.
"Just because he's making millions of dollars doesn't mean he's not affected because once he drives down the street [or] once his kids go out of the home they're going to get stopped by cops, so a lot of these things that we're trying to fight for are gonna affect everybody whether they're rich or not,” said Johnson Jr.
Although the B.A.L.L. Clinic has been on hold during the pandemic because many courts have been closed.
“Everything's starting to ramp back up, so I'll be getting started training again and reaching out to some of the people that I had in the past," said Johnson Jr.
