Activists Call Lewis Inquiries ‘Racist’

Activists in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, where Reggie Lewis worked with children, Saturday decried as “racist” press inquiries about whether cocaine played a role in the Celtics captain’s death in 1993.

Sadiki Kambon, director of the Black Community Information Center, said an article in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, as well as subsequent coverage by the “white media,” offered no evidence that Lewis ever used drugs.

“It’s pure speculation out here that there was drug use,” he said.

He also slammed the timing of the Journal article, saying it was intended to coincide with the retirement of Lewis’ No. 35 at the Boston Garden on March 22 and the dedication of the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Facility in Roxbury on May 20.

“Obviously, based on its timing, it’s a conspiracy to drag the name of Reggie Lewis through the mud,” he said at a news conference Saturday morning in front of the state track, which is still under construction.

The Journal article quoted some of Lewis’ doctors saying they suspected cocaine was the culprit after Lewis collapsed during a playoff game in April 1993, but Lewis refused to be tested for drugs. He collapsed again and died on July 27, 1993, while shooting baskets.

No traces of cocaine were found in his system during the autopsy. Autopsy consultants said scarring in his heart was consistent with cocaine use, among other possible causes, but no cocaine-related diagnosis could be made without evidence he used the drug.

Lewis’ widow, Donna Harris-Lewis, said Thursday her husband never used drugs and did not refuse to be tested. Close friends and teammates have repeatedly said the young athlete did not use drugs, and no one has ever come forward with information that he did.

Darren Clark, who runs the Reggie Lewis Peer Leadership Program for teenagers at the Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury, said the students in his program were devastated by the stories.

“When they heard the news, they were terribly shocked. It was like a blemish on their program,” said Clark, who also is vice president of the NAACP’s Boston chapter.

“The first thing they wanted to do was write a letter of support to Donna - and they did,” he said.

Some of the teenagers, who educate other youths about the dangers of drug abuse and sexually transmitted diseases, had met Lewis. All looked up to him as a role model, Clark said.

Lewis was active in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and other groups, holding basketball clinics for inner-city children and donating turkeys to needy families at Thanksgiving. Harris-Lewis has carried on that work since his death through the Reggie Lewis Foundation.

Minister Rodney X, of the local Nation of Islam mosque, called the attack on Lewis unfounded and said it designed to deprive young black men of a hero.

“They don’t want to see a strong black man stand up and be a role model for his community,” he said.

Lewis’ friend and former agent, Jerome Stanley, also issued a statement calling the articles about the medical treatment of Lewis “racist.”

“If Reggie were not black and from Baltimore, his denial of drug use would have been sufficient to treat his condition without the issue coming up again,” Stanley said.

Clark, who played high school basketball against Lewis in Maryland and knew him as a friend in Boston, said it would not diminish Lewis’ stature in his eyes, even if concrete evidence emerged that the NBA star had used cocaine.

“But it won’t be proven. I’m not concerned about that,” he said.

Mullin due back

Chris Mullin, after making it through practice unscathed, was taken off the injured list and will make his third appearance of the season today when the Warriors face the Phoenix Suns at America West Arena in Phoenix.

The Warriors created a roster spot for Mullin, who has missed 57 of 59 games this season with a variety of injuries and ailments, by placing veteran guard Ricky Pierce on the injured list with a sore right heel.

Mullin, 31, missed the first 29 games of the season after chipping a bone and spraining a ligament in his left knee. He returned Jan. 10 to play 43 minutes in an overtime loss against the Seattle SuperSonics in which he contributed 23 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

After producing 13 points a night later against the Portland Trail Blazers, Mullin sprained his left ankle in a practice Jan. 12.