Normally reserved as the primary venue for working on their basketball skills, New Orleans Pelicans players and coaches spent Monday night in their Metairie practice facility focused on something even more important. The Pelicans hosted a community discussion and dinner, inviting guests that included local youth, law enforcement officials and political leaders. Seated at tables set up on the basketball hardwood, each of the team's players engaged in conversation in groups of 8-10 people.
“It was great to bring everybody together,” Pelicans guard and Baton Rouge native Langston Galloway said. “You have so many big-time leaders that need to be a part of this, whether it be NBA players, police officers, community figures. We got a chance to have some dialogue and talk and definitely make the most of it.”
The children in attendance – ranging from elementary school pupils to teenagers – had the opportunity to learn more from adults about their jobs and traded perspectives. The kids asked numerous questions of the adults, as well as the Pelicans' 15 players, with many of the youngsters looking up to them as successful professional athletes.
“I thought they would ask (Pelicans players) more silly questions, but they asked, 'Who was your role model coming up?' ” said Newell Normand, the Sheriff of Jefferson Parish. “They asked, 'Who in the NBA did you look up to or try to mimic? Who had the biggest impact in your life?' I was moved by the questions they asked. These were serious questions with serious answers.
“Sports players come from all different walks of life. The kids recognize and realize that. Most of these kids have a talent. The capability to turn that into something where they can make a living out of it is what's important, whether it's intellectual, physical, musical or whatever it may be. They are special in a unique way. We have to figure out what that is and exploit it.”
At various stages, the conversation turned to how to improve communication and the relationship between community members and law enforcement. For Galloway, the tragic summer events that took place in Baton Rouge made the issue literally “hit home.”
“The biggest thing is being able to communicate,” the team's July free-agent signing said. “There are so many people who are affected by this. It's huge for me, just to be a part of this. Being from Baton Rouge, right down the street (from New Orleans), there is so much going on, and my community was affected. Knowing that it hit home. That's the first time that anything like that has happened in our community in Baton Rouge. So I'm willing to be a part of anything that is an effort to make a sacrifice to be better.”
