Members of the Black community in Utah are grateful for Mitchell keeping the pressure on the public to embrace dialogue. “To have someone that has a platform like that, it allows them to reach the masses even further, to reach the everyday person,” said Meligha Garfield, director of the Black Cultural Center at the University of Utah. “That’s why I praise. Use your platform, brother.” In that sense, he’s not alone. “It’s always been important to me,” Conley told The Athletic. “Not only as an African-American, a father and a husband, but as a role model. Because of the platform that I have, I try to set a good example, for Black, White, any race. And I want to bring to light to educate certain people on certain situations. Because a lot of things that go wrong in this world, there’s a lot of ignorance behind it. People don’t know, so they just react. I’ve always been a proponent on speaking my truth. I want to educate as much as I can, and open some eyes in the process.”
