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We are in the final days of President Obama’s time in the White House and we sure are going to miss him. One of his final acts in office occurred yesterday when he named some people to key administration posts, which included former NBA star, Ray Allen.
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Allen, along with three other individuals, were appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. It was something that Allen was clearly proud of.
The council’s 55 members appointed by the president meet twice a year. They’re joined by five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives, plus three members from the Department of Education, Interior and State. Presidential appointments are five-year terms.
Back in 2010, Allen joined the “Voices of Antisemitism” podcast, where he talked about the influence of the museum. Coming from a military family, he grew up with many “different perspectives” and admitted at the time that he had never really experienced racism until his family wound up in South Carolina.
“And, you know, it was the first time in my life that people just didn’t like me because I wasn’t like them, I didn’t come from where they came from,” Allen said. “So I always said that when I started playing basketball, and I was getting better at it, that the people who I hang around with, I’m going to bridge the gaps.”
Allen has visited the museum several times, often bringing teammates along. At the time of the podcast, he’d already been four-plus times, taking different people each time.
“You take any person through the Museum, based on their experiences and their life, they’re going to see different things,” he said of the museum in 2010. “And they’re going to talk about the things they want to talk about. But I think the most important thing is communication. That’s a powerful, powerful tool, just talking about it and trying to understand it, and learn from it, and grow.”
H/t The Score
