WS Chronicle

Chris Paul was a guest on ESPN’s First Take to discuss his involvement during HBCU Week and the continued fight for social justice in America. Paul dropped a major announcement at the end of the interview where he stated he was attending Winston-Salem State University.

The mission of HBCU Week is to encourage high-school-aged youth to enroll into HBCUs, provide scholarship dollars for matriculation, and sustain a pipeline for employment from undergraduate school to corporate America.  The most impactful event during HBCU Week is the HBCU College Fair, per the website.  

Paul said he became involved with HBCU Week due to his entire family going to HBCUs and his yearning to give a voice to the voiceless.

“Everyone doesn’t always know about HBCUs and why they were created, and I just try to bring attention to them,” Paul said during the interview.  

Paul recalled when he was in high school how he would visit his brother at Hampton University or attend homecoming at WSSU.  

“Even though I was at Wake Forest, Winston-Salem State was down the street, so I was always over there,” he said. “It’s nothing like it, the competition is amazing, just the culture and I think the more awareness people get, the better.

“A lot of times people try to look at HBCUs like they are inferior and that is not the case. I think that’s why it’s been so dope to see how many people are stepping up and you get a chance to see what really makes HBCUs great.”

Paul touched on the trend of high-profile Black athletes attending HBCUs, rather than going to Power 5 schools.  Because high school players have the power, Paul said wherever the top players decide to attend, the cameras will follow.

As the president of the NBA Players Association, Paul reflected on the imagery and conversations that took place with the players inside of the bubble.

“When you’re in there, you just always trying to figure out what you can do,” Paul said about his time in the bubble. “All of us guys are sort of in situations where we sort of been protectors or caregivers for our family, so we just want to be able to help.

“We are humans, we are fathers, we are brothers, we’re husbands, any of these different things, so it’s tough. When you see the verdict on Breonna Taylor, it’s heartbreaking. I’m the father of an eight-year-old daughter and to see the way that women, especially Black women, are treated at times is not okay. And for those guys to be there and people to wonder should they just play and not speak on these different issues, there is no way, so I just want to commend all the guys in the league and the women for what they are doing.”

Paul has long been a supporter of HBCUs, consistently wearing HBCU paraphernalia to games, so him attending WSSU is Paul coming full circle. Paul also stated his social change fund, in collaboration with HBCU Heroes and Lyft, will be providing transportation to the polls for HBCU students in swing states to enable them to vote in the upcoming election.