The Alabama NAACP issued a statement today criticizing Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl because of Pearl’s social media post earlier this week critical of Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the platform X, Pearl retweeted a post by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who claimed that Harris wanted to end private health insurance plans and put everyone, including illegal aliens, on government plans.
Pearl thanked Cotton for the message and suggested Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, was trying to deceive voters by hiding her “woke progressive beliefs.”
Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama NAACP, said this in response to Pearl’s tweet:
“Kamala Harris is energizing her base which has a significant number of black voters, in her bid for the highest position in the country, and this is causing people to show us who they really are. Since 2014, Coach Pearl has profited off the talents and legacy of Black athletes, but by his own admission doesn’t understand the implications of his words. We do not have to ask, ‘will the real Coach Pearl stand up, because we know he does not want to understand what woke means.”
“The term ‘Woke’ solidifies the harsh conditions and inherent awareness of everyday racial injustices that people of color are subjected to in this country. One would have to be living under a rock to miss the cruel treatments inflicted on Black Americans in a place, we all call our home.
“There is no hiding the fact that Police brutality and brutal murders by police, racism, denial of equitable health care, and refusal to teach our children the truth about our history, all exist and are as visible as your hand is, in front of your face. The only way to not know what ‘woke’ is – is to just go back to sleep.”
Pearl, who has coached at Auburn since 2014, declined to comment on the NAACP’s statement.
Pearl has previously responded to criticism about expressing his opinions, including in an interview this week on Outkick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich.”
“We have graduated 40 kids in the last 10 years,” Pearl said during that interview. “And I don’t know how many of them are African American. But about 80 to 90% of my players are African Americans. So you do the math. I am so proud of that. I’m proud of those kids. I’m proud of their families. I’m proud of my staff. I’m proud of Auburn.”
Pearl said he did not fault people who criticized him.
“But as a result of being criticized, I’m not necessarily just going to all of a sudden go quiet,” Pearl said. “Look, I’ve got a basketball team to coach.
“But we also are in an election period right now and there’s a lot of discussion about it. Let’s have a discussion. You know what I’d like for both of them (Harris and Donald Trump) to do? I’d like for both of them to be honest with who they are and what they stand for.”
Harris was a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders Medicare for all legislation when she was in the U.S. Senate but is not advocating for that as part of her presidential campaign.
