‘This is about being a damn American.’ Coach K speaks out about attack on US Capitol.
His COVID-19 quarantine left Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski at home last Wednesday where he could closely monitor the deadly riot on the U.S. Capitol.
A West Point graduate who rose to the rank of captain before leaving the Army in 1974, Krzyzewski grew angry Saturday when asked about the events, which he called an “insurrection.”
“It went to the very fabric of this great country,” Krzyzewski said Saturday during his postgame Zoom press conference after Duke beat Wake Forest, 79-68, at Cameron Indoor Stadium. “The symbol for our democracy is that Capitol. We allowed that symbol to really just be spit on and stepped on. And it was a sorry day.”
The former coach of the U.S. national team who led the Americans to gold medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Krzyzewski raised serious concerns about the pro-President Donald Trump extremists who participated in the riot at the Capitol. Five people died — including a Capitol Police officer — during the attempted coup, which interrupted a joint session of Congress as it worked to count the Electoral College votes and finalize the results of the 2020 election that chose Joe Biden as president.
“Where are our values?” Krzyzewski said. “Our nation has been built on values. On values! And that sorry, sorry day. Everyone who is involved, they should be prosecuted. And our leaders, or politicians who spoke up in support of that, should be chastised. There’s no question about it. This is not about being a Republican or a Democrat. This is about being a damn American. Be an American. Work together.”
Krzyzewski says the country is in a bad place
Krzyzewski tied that incident with the slow roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine as examples of the nation’s poor leadership.
“What the hell are we doing?” Krzyzewski said. “What the hell are we doing, where we can’t work as a country, to, you know, come together and get these vaccines out, make sure that we’re coming together. And if someone’s doing something bad, Congress has the responsibility of stepping forward. I’m not sure if you saw Colin Powell be interviewed on TV. A man that is one of our great Americans, and what he said was, as this whole thing is moving along, Congress needs to step forward and say, `You can’t do that.’
Around five hours after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Duke played a basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Boston College. Krzyzewski wasn’t in the arena since he and his wife were quarantining after being in close contact with a family member who tested positive for COVID-19.
Asked about playing a game following the attack on the Capitol, Duke freshman guard Jeremy Roach said Friday during a Zoom meeting with reporters the day was emotional for the Blue Devils.
“Our emotions were high,” said Roach, a Washington, D.C., native who played basketball at Paul VI Catholic High School in neighboring Fairfax, Virginia, “because that’s somewhat close to our state. So emotions were definitely high. But you just have to get through and keep pushing. Like everybody says, keep pushing for change. One day it will come. Believe.”
On Saturday, Krzyzewski said the nation is in a bad place and needs to turn the situation around.
“People say, `That’s not who we are’, Krzyzewski said. “That is who we are right now. It is who we are. We need to change who we are, all right. We need to get back to the basic principles that have founded this country.”
This story was originally published January 9, 2021 at 5:26 PM with the headline "‘This is about being a damn American.’ Coach K speaks out about attack on US Capitol.."