Barak Swarttz

I don't see these barriers.

I see them as a kid.

I'm a six-year-old too and they're six years old and we're playing soccer and I'm making like sounds just playing with them because we didn't even speak the same language.

that six-year-old Barack got exposed to the concept of bridging communities, being around other people who don't necessarily share the same belief in God or whatever it is tradition.

As a six-year-old, I didn't understand that.

Later in life, I did.

That concept of being around different groups of people and then just came to life and flourished on the basketball court.

Just always around.

My best friend from high school was Muslim.

And I've been inside of his family's mosque when his cousin was getting married.

I've broken Ramadan with him.

He's been at my house for Passover.

He's been at my house for Shabbat wearing a kippah.

This is the Jewish house that I grew up in, which I'm so grateful for because again, it's the environment I was put in with my parents.

And then basketball allowed me to just like embrace this idea of bridging communities.

And I see sports as basketball, for example, for me as a really good vehicle to try and form a different model of how we can navigate these really difficult conversations.

That's kind of my, that's my North Star right now.

Right?

Yeah.

And that's how they connect.