St. John’s basketball head coach Mike Anderson is continuing to invoke change within the program amid the social and racial issues in the country.
Mike Anderson is man of character, integrity, and action and it’s showing once again off the court for the St. John’s Red Storm.
As the team is finally back on campus following the absence of the entire spring and summer sessions because of the coronavirus pandemic, Anderson held a team meeting to address the recent social and racial issues in the United States.
The head coach of St. John’s had been very vocal following the death of George Floyd, an African-American in Minneapolis, Minnesota and talked with his team about registering to vote.
The same is true days after the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, another African-American male.
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In a tweet on Friday afternoon, Anderson shared some insight on what the team had discussed and revealed that the entire team is now registered to vote in the upcoming United States Presidential election on November 3.
Today was very informative and productive for our players. We discussed voter registration and voting rights.
— Coach Mike Anderson (@Iron_MikeMA) August 28, 2020
We ended the day with 100% of our team registering to vote.
Go Red Storm! pic.twitter.com/UvhboYQHfO
Mike Anderson also reveled that he’s partnering with ABIS, also known as the Advancement of Blacks in Sports, in a pledge to lead the change in the world of sports which involves social, racial, and economic justice that provided knowledge and ambition to student-athletes.
I will lead the change I want to see in the world of sports...real & immediate change centered around social, racial, & economic justice. I will be the steward that empowers & educates our student-athletes. I will grow #thegamebeyondthelines. Are you IN? #IAmABIS #WeAreABIS pic.twitter.com/QoSmN5YAX6
— Coach Mike Anderson (@Iron_MikeMA) August 29, 2020
Other coaches around college basketball that have already taken the lead in joining ABIS, including Cuonzo Martin, the head coach of the Missouri Tigers.
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Mike Anderson also released the following statement back on May 30 in the wake of Floyd’s murder.
— Coach Mike Anderson (@Iron_MikeMA) May 30, 2020
St. John’s was ahead of the curve with the NCAA by giving its student-athletes the day off from games, workouts, practices, etc. to go vote and while that will still remain true, the pandemic has forced the Big East to cancel all fall sporting events, even putting the typical start date for college basketball in jeopardy.