Picture a young Black boy shooting hoops in his driveway for three consecutive hours until it’s too dark to even see the rim. Many of us can not only picture this boy, but we can put a face on him because either we were that boy, he was our brother, he is our son, or we are still close friends with him. Think about that boy’s dream of one day playing the game he loves on the biggest stage in the world. With every single shot, he audibly gives the play-by-play of some imaginary situation in which he needs to hit that shot to win the big game. See, that boy might be physically standing on a gravel court in his neighborhood, but mentally he is at the free throw line in the NBA Finals — a mental vision that is nothing more than a fleeting pipe dream for millions of boys around the world.
But there are a lucky few who become high school superstars, AAU legends, McDonald’s All-Americans, and eventually the big men on their college campuses. Even after all the hard work and sacrifice that it takes to make it that far, most college athletes will be going pro in something other than the sport they are amazing at, like the NCAA constantly reminds us. Of the millions of kids who fall in love with basketball every year, only 360-450 players are actually in the NBA. What it takes for that little Black boy to make it from that driveway to wearing an NBA jersey is daunting to say the least.
These young men have been through the depths of personal and professional hell to get where they are today, but they damn sure are reaping the financial benefits of their struggle. The average salary in the NBA is $5.15 million, and that number is expected to rise sharply very soon due to their collective bargaining agreement. But what’s very interesting about money, is that it does not replace the burning desire these young men had as boys to excel in the playoffs and win an NBA championship. Men like Charles Barkley, who has amassed considerable wealth from his athletic career, have stated in the past that they would not only give some of their personal accolades away, but they would’ve parted with some money if they could have been a champion just ONCE. Now picture that young boy and everything he has overcome to reach his dreams. Picture that young boy growing into a young man who is now supporting a family with earnings from the game he loves. Picture that young man fighting side-by-side with teammates who are more like brothers, all playing with battered and beaten bodies in pursuit of one common goal. Picture that young Black man going to sleep Friday night with absolute focus and concentration — only to wake up Saturday morning with an entire community commanding him to flick some instantaneous switch and STOP fighting for that goal. Well that is exactly the scenario Los Angeles Clippers players have found themselves, in the wake of Donald Sterling‘s alleged ignorant and racist rant, and if you think that decision can be made easily, you’re an IDIOT.
After Sterling’s rant went viral, thanks to his girlfriend V. Stiviano, and the world found out what some insiders and basketball fans had known all along — that Sterling allegedly isn’t very fond of Black folks — the immediate and visceral response from many in the Black community was that the players should boycott Sterling and his organization by not playing anymore play-off games. People even went so far as to invoke names like Muhammad Ali (whose defiance to fight in the Vietnam War led to him serving jail time and being stripped of his World Boxing Association title and belt), in an attempt to question the morality of the modern Black athlete. As far as these people were concerned, the athletes would show comparative cowardice by playing in the game, and not doing what they believe athletes of previous decades would have done, which would be taking a strong, pro-Black stance.
That is absolute nonfactual bullshit.
What those people don’t address is the fact that Black athletes of their day and Ali’s were supported by a strong presence of community activism and the Black empowerment movement. When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved fists on the podium of the 1968 Olympics as an act of protest, the framework for their resistance had already been laid out a couple years prior, thanks to the Black Panther Party. While their actions were nothing short of heroic, the social activism in the 1960s was so prevalent for African Americans that they were choosing to participate in the movement – not commandeer it. Ali was a strong-minded and strong-willed man, but much of his views on empowerment were imparted to him as a member of the Nation of Islam. We’ve always wanted our athletes to join us in our fight, but we’ve never demanded that they fight our battles alone, while we watch and patiently await the outcome. So while we call these young men cowards for deciding to band together to play the game they love, feed their families, and fight to achieve their dreams, it’s somewhat startling to see who the real cowards are in this situation: Us, Black people.
How in the hell can any of us justify demanding that L.A. Clippers invoke a spirit of activism that damn near none of us display in our own everyday lives? How in the hell can we decide that overt actions of defiance in the face of bigotry can only be enacted by a basketball team? Where in the hell is the Black social support system that is supposed to exist to fight systemic racism and join the Black community to oppose prejudice big and small? See, back in the days, Black folks understood that fighting for our rights wasn’t something that you chose to do – it was something that was intrinsically embedded into your DNA as an African American. Jackie Robinson is probably the bravest Black man America has ever seen, but don’t be fooled into believing that the Black community was wholly apathetic to battling racism — like we are today. Whenever overt racism and systemic dysfunction rears its ugly head, Blacks can be counted on to complain without action, state that they are not surprised that something racist happened, or accuse other Blacks of making “everything about race.”
Let me put it like this: Donald Sterling has been the only real topic that has been discussed this weekend, from the barbers at your local shop all the way to Barack Obama at the White House. But imagine if we got that angry about the things we’ve become complacent about. Imagine if we got that angry about the murder rates in our communities, the policy-failures in our school-systems, the sexual abuse of young Black women nationwide, the raising unemployment numbers in urban epicenters, and the prison industrial complex targeting young Black women and men. But we don’t get that angry about those topics. And we allow them to just become everyday realities, while we go about living our lives, earning a salary, and feeding our families – which is exactly what the Clippers players did. They are going about the business of winning like a team. Which is why I think their pregame demonstration of team unity was absolutely PERFECT. They ran to center court, threw their team shooting shirts down. and warmed up with their red T-shirts inside out, so the organization’s name and logo wouldn’t be displayed on their chests. That was their way of letting the world know that the men inside that locker room — many who have had little to no direct interaction with owner Sterling — are playing for the man next to them, not some decrepit racist asshole sitting in a luxury box.
So when we talk about cowardice, let us all remember that activism is not a spectator sport. It’s not about sitting back and watching what someone else will do. It’s about actively fighting, and unfortunately we haven’t done that — yet. Regardless of what the Clippers do, Sterling makes his money from the support of the games through TV and ticket prices. Instead of accusing the players of being cowards, how many of us are willing to forgo watching Clippers games anymore? How many of us are not willing to buy tickets to Clippers games anymore? How many of us are willing to not spend a dime on the Clippers franchise until the NBA replaces Sterling? How many of us are willing to make this stance in all playoff games of all teams? I find it funny that the NBA is taking this long to investigate and punish Sterling when it hastily punishes Black players.
LOL @ NBA conducting a “full investigation” of the audio recording of Sterling. They lipread Kobe sayin faggot & suspended him b4 the buzzer
— thisisyourconscience (@lincolnablades) April 26, 2014
Truth be told, this issue is complicated and very layered. There is no easy answer, and pretending that there is one is foolish. But if there’s one takeaway that Black people should understand from this issue, it’s that there is still a need for Black empowerment. We like to believe that those with prejudicial mindsets have died off, but that’s nothing more than wishful thinking. Hell, as we continue to discuss whether Affirmative Action is still a necessity, many Blacks are clamoring to support its abolition as if structural racism is a relic of a time long past. Unfortunately racism is still very much alive, and if we all continue to sidestep activism in order to support the NBA with amazing ratings and sold out arenas, we have no ground to stand on to call those young men cowards. If you REALLY want to see what Black activism leads to in today’s society start by Googling ONE name:
Craig Hodges.
LAB
Lincoln Anthony Blades blogs daily on his site ThisIsYourConscience.com, he’s an author of the book “You’re Not A Victim, You’re A Volunteer” and a weekly contributor for UPTOWN Magazine. He can be reached via Twitter @lincolnablades and on Facebook at This Is Your Conscience.