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Letters From The Gotdamn Editor

How To Control The $40 Million Slave

Racism: Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Prejudice: An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.

So here we are, a few days removed from the NBA Rules? Racist As F*ck blog that set some of you smooth the fuck off. The dialog is appreciated. As it is obvious from the great lot of comments, many of you simply don’t agree with the blog. Some see it as a direct comparison between the NHL and the NBA (which is not the basis of the argument). Some see it as black vs. white.  A couple actually made sense out of the direction of the blog and the purpose behind it.

The isolated rule in itself isn’t “racist”, it’s stupid. David Stern may love or loathe black people, we’ll never know. White people may or may not be better fighters than black people, that’s a case by case basis. There’s no hardcore facts to support any of this. But David Stern’s “cleaning up the game” rules have been built upon racist viewpoints created by the media’s portrayal of the black athlete in conjunction with Hip Hop culture (although the two should not have to be synonymous).

You don’t believe me? Well here’s an excerpt from a Yahoo! Sports article (By Adrian Wojnarowski; Oct 30 2006) that quotes Stern and his concerns during his “cleaning up” stages…

"Stern is reluctant to discuss the racial overtones that seem to find their way into criticisms of his league, but he will say, "When Ron Artest went into the stands, it was, 'All those players are …"

He doesn't fill in the blank. Plenty of people do it for him.

And then he says, "And I know for a fact that they're not [all the same], so I wonder why they're so easily generalized. Maybe we're not doing as good of a job as we should be doing, or maybe there's something else at work."

Something else? I wonder what that is? And who is “they”? Stern has done a helluva job tiptoeing around the topic but to say that race has not played a factor into how any of these rules have come into play or are interpreted over the years is ridiculous. The criticism is there and we can act as if this has nothing to do with the fact that the players are black but I won’t. But I won’t blame the NBA for making the rules, I’ll blame the media for its portrayal of the black athlete. I’ll also blame the media for making times difficult for Stern and Co. to appease his fans and supporters.

See, the NBA’s rules of “cleaning up” the league (whether it be the dress code, no celebrations, taunting, fighting, arguing with refs, long shorts, headbands, etc) are in response to what the media thinks and in turn projects to the public . When I used the term "cleaning up the league" and likened it to "whitening up the league", I meant it. Regardless of what you may think; dress code, celebrations, taunting, long shorts, dress code and everything else were all introduced by African American ballplayers and were subsequently removed via the “rules”. The media has convinced you that style and swagger are all "unsportsmanlike conduct." But why is that? What's wrong with a little shit talking? What harm did long shorts really do? Celebrating after a great play may piss off the other team but is it really that big of a deal?

The NBA wants to make it a friendly and relatable sport so when Fox News, CNN, ESPN and other news networks constantly report about “thugs” who “ruin the game” and it is broadcast into millions of homes do you think Stern and Co. are not paying attention? And what color pops into your head when the term “thug” is used?

Still don’t believe that race plays a role in any of this? Oh okay, apparently that’s not enough for those who were utterly disgusted for me calling the NBA rules racist. Here’s Bill Simmons (who is a white guy by the way) from ESPN.com’s Page 2  answering a question posed by a reader (posted May 18th)…

From Alex in Puyallup, Wash.: ‘I was reading the comments of some of the other NBA experts on ESPN and one of them mentioned the fact that people would see the NBA as a bunch of 'thugs' if they allowed bench-clearing fights. Don't you think it's odd that baseball players aren't referred to as 'thugs' when they engage in a bench-clearing brawl, yet NBA players are often seen in this manner? Often times, a brawl in baseball is looked upon as a positive by the fans of the team. They see it something that gets the team fired up or it 'shows that they care.' So why are NBA players considered 'thugs' for doing something that's almost celebrated (in some circles) when it occurs in baseball? I have a suspicion as to why this is, and it has little to do with one sport wearing shorts and the other wearing pants. Just some food for thought.”

‘My response: One of David Stern's biggest concerns has always been marketing a mostly black league to a mostly white fan base. The NBA has always battled covert racism to some degree -- if Kyle Farnsworth charges out of the bullpen and decks nine Red Sox players during a brawl, he's a bad-ass and it's all in good fun, but if Stephen Jackson does it, the black/white thing hangs over everything, right? My Page 2 buddy Jemele Hill and I exchanged some e-mails about that on Wednesday -- Jemele believes that the Horry/Nash incident wouldn't have received as much play if Barbosa had been sprawled below the press table instead of Nash. And you know what? I agree. Nash's involvement reminded me of the O.J. Trial for this reason -- if Nicole looked like Regina King and Ronald Goldman looked like Usher, that wouldn't have been the most famous American trial of the 20th century. Same for the Nash/Horry play. It's still a big deal if Barbosa is involved ... but not as big of a deal as seeing America's favorite white point guard lying there, right?’

But apparently what I said was completely unjust…

What’s so “dirty” about the league that doesn’t happen in other sports? Fighting? That happens everywhere. What else is there? What made the league not “clean”? Who decided that? The media.

The media sets the foundation constantly by portraying the league in a certain light. Too many blanket statements about the league being full of “thugs” has begun to seep into the pores of the public. Sure, there are a few bad apples but “thugs”? The term is directly related to blackness which is in itself racist. Hockey is a violent sport. Yes, fighting is a part of the game but there have been some savage ass whippings handed out. While the over the top behavior may get the individuals called many things, the term “thug” isn’t thrown their way for a brutal high stick incident.

Now for those that say fighting is “part of the game” I want to ask, “Does it help you win the game?” If so, then the question is “How?” The object of the game, much like soccer, football and basketball is to put the object in the opponents goal.  Now the means of defense to stop one from obtaining that goal may be physical but none of which state that you may pummel your opponent with your fists. If it was “part of the game” then there would be no penalty for doing it. With that being said, I’m not knocking those that love hockey nor those that play it. I’m just citing the obvious.

The comparison isn’t the fighting itself, but the perception of the fighting (as referenced in the previous Bill Simmons quote). Baseball brawls happen about as often as fights in the NBA but they don’t give the sport a black eye like a brawl in the NBA does. Why such a microscope on the NBA? You be the judge.

I personally don’t think there is anything wrong with wearing suits but the dress code rule was put in place to make the league more presentable and to erase an image that wasn’t media and fan friendly. Some dared to say that cornrows and tattoos were something that the fanbase couldn’t identify with (word?).  That, my dear friends, is driven by race.

The media has kept this image of a black man with cornrows, tattoos and jewelry as a “thug.” A “thug” isn’t what he wears, it’s what he is. A suit really isn’t going to change that. If you really have character issues in the NBA then something needs to be done to make these ballplayers better MEN.  Whether it be etiquette classes or whatever. If the real fear is a thug mentality then a suit isn’t going to stop them.

What the media has done is magnify things to the point where people react. Whether it be rules, laws, purchasing guns, medicine, condoms or even convincing you what an “illegal immigrant” really is (that's a whole different blog).  For example:

In the news, the “hood” is a place where crime always happens. In just about all cases it’s a bunch of black and brown people. And when something does happen, they always find the most ignorant person to talk about it on camera (I have no idea why). Now some of you have grown up in this “hood” and say “It ain’t THAT gotdamn bad.” Well too late, the damage is done. It has now been magnified to the point where not even your black friends will come see you. Their parents didn’t even want to risk the perceived danger. A ripple effect happens all out of fear. Nobody wants to move there, property value plummets, etc etc etc.

The fact that the property value has gone down isn’t racist but the reason behind it is. A concept was created based on fear which was all created by this beast called the media. The NBA has turned into the “hood” for some. The NBA All Star game was a “hood” event full of “thugs” that was seen as a total disaster by many (although New Year’s has a much larger arrest per person rate in Vegas but there are no “thugs” there right?).

In this Suns vs. Spurs situation a rule was created with a big grey area. The rule states that when a player leaves the bench area during an “altercation” he is automatically suspended for one game. What the hell constitutes an altercation? Emotion? A technical foul? What if two players are jawing at each other? Tim Duncan walked on court for a hard foul in a previous game, yet there was no “altercation.”

If a fight were to happen would it be another black eye on the NBA’s image? Guaranteed the detractors would come waving their “I Told You So” flags and the whole “thug” and “gangsta” nonsense would be started again. Why can’t a fight be a fight no matter what league it is?

Some of you blasted me for pulling the “race card.” It was a bit of tongue in cheek humor. Because if I didn’t, guaranteed someone else would have just because color was brought into the conversation. To absolutely ignore the fact that race is a factor in this country is foolish. It has to be recognized, whether you like it or not.

To those who say that what I did was “separating the races” I’d have to respond to that suggestion being a foolish as well. Nobody that read this article was a target of hate nor was the intention to separate whites from blacks.  The blog called the NBA rules racist not David Stern, not white people, not you. What I did was take common misconceptions and apply them to a topic and everyone went wild by using racial statements to combat my perceived and misconstrued racism (an oxymoron at its finest).

This really isn’t about “the white man is holding me down” theory. You don’t have to be white to take part in being an oppressor. You don’t have to be black to be part of the oppressed. But don’t get carried away and say that White issues are the same as Black issues or Black issues are the same as Hispanic issues or Gay issues. The lingering problem here is that there are issues and prejudice that still reside at the top of many corporate ladders. Most of them have done a great job convincing you thru the media that racism doesn’t exist unless it’s blatant and anyone who recognizes it is pulling the “race card.”  

Go on ahead and keep hollering that “race card” nonsense. There are still race issues in this country and they still are evident in our everyday lives even though not as overt as back in the 60’s.  Until Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case gets as much press time as Paris Hilton’s, I won’t be convinced otherwise. Until there are more African Americans in positions of power at record labels & sports organizations, I will still play the “race card.” Until Malcolm, Martin, Huey, Marcus, Nat, Fredrick, Che, Fred, Angela, Assata and the many others who have been instrumental in the shaping of this world get more than a paragraph in our children’s history books, I will still play the “race card.” When the percentage of black screenwriters on television is around 10%, I will still play the “race card.” When the prisons consist of black men occupying a jail cell at 10 times the rate of white men, I’ll still play the “race card.”

No, it’s not an excuse why I don’t have a job. That’s silly. I do have a job. But that doesn’t mean one can’t recognize a problem. That’s like saying because the NBA has black players it CAN’T be racist. That’s silly rhetoric. Or to say that with integration that all black people's problems disappeared into thin air. To have a bunch of strong black men make you tons of money while you sit and do nothing may not be racist to some (but it sure sounds familiar to others). The problem becomes when those strong black men are just black players and not people.

So piss on my grave. Call me a coon or an  uneducated, ignorant fool. Be repulsed. Fire away with insults but I bet you will talk about this blog as you did the other. Whether you agree with me or not matters to me none. I rather you engage in critical dialog and think about the situation and apply it outside of just the NBA. Some can handle this with well thought out conversation, some can’t. Regardless, maybe the next time you turn to your trusted media source you’ll think before you react.

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