I am that guy.
The compelling story of Michigan State basketball player Anthony Ianni has something to tell us all.
The YouTube video “Beyond the Paint: Anthony Ianni” tells the story about his journey from a child on the Autism Spectrum, whose future was discounted by his physicians, to a basketball star at Michigan State. It was not a journey without struggle. His parents insisted on his right to aim high and achieve. His coaches worked as hard as he did. His Spartan teammate, Draymond Green, a three-time NBA All Star with the Golden State Warriors, became a lifelong friend and ally.
In the video, Anthony says, “It only takes one person to inspire somebody in life…I’m going to be that guy.”
People with disabilities and their families and advocates talk about having “a real life.” That means friends, school, work, families, independence. You might think it doesn’t take a hero to make that happen. You’d be wrong. The history of people with mental illness and/or developmental disabilities is littered with horror — from casual, everyday spite to mind-numbing brutality. One of the greatest threats to life for individuals in a mental health crisis is a police encounter. Even efforts to dismantle the infrastructure of cruel incarceration left thousands of individuals living on the street.
People dehumanized because of how they look, how they sound. Judgements about what they can do that leaves them forever on the sidelines. Tortured, maimed, murdered. Sound familiar? It should. But there were a lot of people willing to be “that guy.” It took time, money, testimony, but those people didn’t give up. Neither should we.
For people with disabilities, Anthony Ianni is that guy. He tells high school students they can be the number one reason why they save somebody’s life. They will have a chance to be that guy.
Right now, America needs a lot of those guys.
I am not saying that Black Americans are like people with disabilities. I am saying that America chews up and spits out anybody who is different. Neuro-typical white privilege rolls across the country like a sea of polluted water — poisoning everything in its path. Black people, poor people, people with disabilities. Until somebody is that guy and stands in the way.
Yeah, that first guy might go down. The second one, too. Even the third. But when there are thousands of us — thousands of those guys — we can turn back the tide of racial hate and injustice. We are seeing it in the streets now — slow change, and sometimes it feels insincere. Like Breonna’s Law — too little, too late. So there needs to be more. Because there are too many Breonna Taylor’s to count and too many bad cops with guns. But there are more of us.
It’s today. Let’s go be that guy.
