On Tuesday, just 72 hours after the release of Sterling’s Pillow Talk Tapes by TMZ, a rookie commissioner imposed a lifetime ban on man who is clearly a racist and a bigot.
This was heralded as a landmark occasion, a moment that will forever change the face of North American sports and bring about change. Although this may be correct, unfortunately the day also put to rest the notion of the real ‘hero’, the activist no longer exists and changes that were fought for a few decades ago have dwindled to mere public holidays and quotes underneath an Instagram avatar.
I am not an American. I did not live through the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King has not had the impact on my life that he has had on millions of African Americans, and I am not a socialist hippy who doesn’t enjoy the capitalist indulgences. I am merely a Gen Y teacher who has loved sports and everything that it has stood for since I became an avid fan as a child.
Until Tuesday.
I have grown up to the Gen X stories about Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. Watched many documentaries and was inspired by their fight to risk everything to bring about change. I was shocked to realise how much the world had changed prior to my birth and how the world seemed to have come a long way since the apartheid in South Africa.
I grew up listening to NWA telling us to ‘eff the Police’ (paraphrased) and to Tupac telling us that system was corrupt. That’s what rap music was about. It was to inform us youth that the system was there to help the rich and eff the poor, and it seemed we were moving in a direction where we would know better than our predecessors. The battle had been fought and won, and we would never make the same mistakes again.
Until Tuesday.
A lot has changed since I was in High School. Internet and Social media has now allowed everyone around the world to have a voice and there doesn’t seem to be an issue where someone doesn’t have an opinion (heck I’m doing it right now by writing this blog, which is intended to be read by the few followers I have), but what’s the point of a voice if no one is willing to act on it?
Tuesday came and it was time for someone to stand up and rise to the occasion. We have seen the endless quotes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram where athletes and fans have expressed their beliefs on how the world should be run and here was the time to turn those words into actions.
The result?… a mere 45minute players meeting, followed by the players partaking in a ‘silent’ protest with their warm-up shirts turned inside out and players continuing to play with their team uniforms anyway.
That’s it?
This was the moment where the Alpha dog would need step up and come up ‘clutch’ and unfortunately, he/the players collectively came up short. If the players were held to the same standard in which Skip Bayless holds Lebron James to, we’d be calling the Clippers ‘Flop City’.
Sterling’s comments didn’t tell us anything that we already didn’t know. Racism still exists in all forms of sub culture, and not just amongst the elite. We still read about bananas being thrown onto football fields all across Europe, fans still shout out obscenities at Indigenous players on the football field in Australia and Muslims are still feared around the world.
His comments didn’t surprise me; in fact I don’t see the difference between his comments and a Muslim Australian being racially profiled at an airport and asked to be taken to the side because of his name—something which happens to me every time I want to visit the U.S to attend an NBA game. It doesn’t matter that I was born and raised in Australia and that I have never even visited the country in which my parents hail from, but the name ‘Mohamed’ warrants an interrogation. I also don’t see the difference between bar owners who place a strict ‘no Middle Eastern’ Policy to their doormen – ‘sorry members only’
This form of racial profiling is nothing new to the minority. We live with it every day and we hope our actions or our Facebook statuses’ will bring about change. But every so often a moment calls upon someone in the public eye to rise up and make a resounding statement. Something that may be criticised in the short-term but will be hailed in the years to come.
Unfortunately this wasn’t Tuesday.
The actions of the players and the feeling towards their statement highlighted the priorities of society in modern day times. The athletes were excused because they were in pursuit of a championship. They were excused because they ‘earn too much money’ and they shouldn’t have to lose out for the work they put in. Arguments that certainly warrant some consideration however, that’s what the sacrifice entails. A person cannot be hailed for such actions without putting something on the line. He/she is respected because they put their materialist ambitions aside not only for the greater good, but for something that means more to them than their lifestyle.
Ironically, this isn’t something that should be new to the NBA player—haven’t we seen these athletes stand up for their rights at the cost of something they dearly love? If you answered ‘yes’ to the aforementioned rhetorical question and referred to the NBA lockout, you’d be correct.
Prior to the 2011-12 season, the NBA Players Association (NBPA) were quoted by their representatives on many occasions that they were prepared to give away the entire season in order to fight for their rights. The players understood they needed to take slight pay cuts, however, the owners (Sterling and his fellow colleagues) felt the NBA needed to create a more stringent system which would allow for greater profits to the teams. As a result the games were locked out, players were left without their cheques and thousands of other workers around the league waited anxiously as their livelihoods were now on the line.
“There’s some mixed emotions but this is what’s best for the league, it’s what’s best for our players,” All-Star guard Rajon Rondo told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard on Monday. “We have to stand together. It’s not about the Boston Celtics selfishly wanting to play this year; it’s about what’s best for us as a unit.”
“standing up for what’s right”
Ironically, Rondo was the starting Point Guard on the Doc Rivers coached Boston Celtics who was not only speaking on behalf of his teammates, but also the hundreds of players in the league who were willing to sacrifice everything in the short-term to improve their conditions for years to come.
This also wasn’t the feeling of just one player, as a few others were also quoted on how strongly they felt about the issue with the then Vice President of the Player’s Association and Atlanta Hawk at the time, Maurice Evans telling ESPN that he too would be willing to have thousands of employees out of work to fight for financial injustice.
“We understand the consequences of potentially missing the season; we understand the consequences that players could potentially face if things don’t go our way, but it’s a risk worth taking….It’s the right move to do.”
“It’s the right move to do”
That was the last sentence from Evans’ statement and the most resounding one. The players were willing to risk the jobs of not only the players, but also the livelihoods of all the other team employees that weren’t earning the exuberant amounts of money such as themselves to fight for the greater good. To fight for what they felt was their rights, their entitlements and their ability to make a living.
“It’s the right move to do”
So is the ‘right move’ to continue to play for a racist owner’s family just because your team is in pursuit of a championship? Does the ‘right move’ only entail fighting for your financial rights and not your civil rights? These are the questions the players should be asking themselves, even though their most recent actions seems to have already provided the answers.
There are those who defend the players and say that they shouldn’t have to suffer at the expense of a racist owner, even though it was known what type of person he was prior to Doc Rivers and Chris Paul’s arrival. Those people have a valid argument; however, those same people would need to question a man like Elgin Baylor who continued to work for Sterling for 22 years, although he later decided to sue for racial discrimination. The case was eventually thrown with a jury voting 12-0 against all charges laid—probably due the fact that they were just as astounded as I was that Baylor continued to work for Sterling for over 20 years whilst claiming he was racially vilified.
If we’re going to banish a person for life from his OWN team then we need to make a stand to ensure that this will NEVER EVER be tolerated again. That it’s not ok to work for someone who is a known racist even though you’re earning millions of dollars.
Rivers’ reaction to the comments was the most telling part of the story as he admitted that he wasn’t sure if the was surprised by the comments.
“I don’t know if I’m surprised or not,” Rivers said to ESPN’s Arash Markazi
Rivers went onto discuss how the players will not let anything stand in the way of the way of their championship aspirations.
“Having said that, our goal is to win the NBA title and we’re not going to let anything stand in the way of that. That’s adversity that we didn’t want but we have it and we have to deal with it and we’ll deal with it internally but we’re not going to share it with anybody else.”
I would’ve presumed that was also the goal of Doc Rivers’ aging squad in Boston during the 2011-12 season during which Rondo and the rest of the players were willing sacrifice the little time they had left together in order to ensure they were earning the right money.
“It’s the right move to do”
Well the ‘right move to do’ was to step it up on that Tuesday and make a stand that was going to be forever remembered, a step that would continue the great work of previous activists who put aside their financial motives in order to stand up for Civil Rights. Civil Rights that entailed how a person was viewed rather than what they can earn. The fight was for the right to be looked at as equals, rather than having the ability earn millions of dollars and keeping quiet whilst doing so.
This was not the time for a ‘silent protest’, rather protesting silently demonstrated what we as a society are willing to give up. It demonstrated that our Civil Rights have a cost, and as long as we ‘keep gettin dem cheques’ it’s ok to compromise our identity.
Personally, I always viewed the players as people first and athletes second; however, I’m not too sure if that’s the way they view themselves. Unfortunately the show will go on and the hero will only be subjected to a great basketball play and how many rings they have.
The battle has been fought and lost.