Not playing games with justice

During such a tense moment in history as right now, with Black Lives Matter protests taking place all over the world, it is the perfect time for white sports fans to uplift Black voices, help share their message, and stand with them in solidarity and understanding. Instead, a lot of “fans” did quite the opposite.  

Young--mostly white, male--sports fans took to social media to share their thoughts on the boycott and the Black Lives Matter movement. The comments were racist, negative, and overall, very unsupportive. President Trump responded that he didn’t like Lebron James and that he favored “Michael Jordan...he wasn’t political so people like him better.” 

In reality, Jordan recently donated $100 million to racial justice causes and has spoken about “ingrained racism” in the United States, according to The Guardian. 

Lebron James, an extremely popular basketball star of this generation and also an important political figure for the American youth, believes that he should express his right to share his thoughts on politics and he “Will definitely not shut up and dribble...I mean too much to society, too much to the youth, too much to so many kids who feel like they don’t have a way out,” James said.

Golden State Warriors’ player, Stephen Curry, has also been known to speak out about politics and the mistreatment of Black athletes. “People kind of try to put athletes and black athletes in a box, to say basketball is the only thing you can provide in the world,” Curry said. “This is not all that we’re about. It’s not all that we contribute to the world. There are guys that are going out, putting in resources and funds and raising awareness in the community.”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver embraced the players’ actions and said, “I’m incredibly proud of the players for using the platform they have on social media to speak out on issues...there is an enormous amount of racial tension in this country, enormous amount of social injustice, and I do see a role for this league in addressing those issues.”

After the postponement of several playoff games that undoubtedly captured the attention of many sports fans, NBA Players met Wednesday night to discuss the decision. Meetings among both players and the NBA’s Board of Governors took place on Thursday as the league and its union decided what to do about the rest of its season. Eventually, the NBA claimed in a recent press release that “The players decided for themselves to continue playing. That included those who initially opposed the decision, such as LeBron James.” According to the report, The Lakers and Clippers initially both pushed to end the season during Wednesday’s meeting. Players were reportedly up late into the night discussing issues within the bubble. “That, combined with the time players had to cool down after Wednesday’s emotional meeting, seemed to lead to the budding consensus to restart the season,” said the NBA press release. 

On Thursday, the NBA announced it would resume playoff games on Friday or Saturday. They said that they wished players could stay off the court until all police officers acted as if Black lives mattered, or “At least until sports fans across the country recognized the problem of systemic racism and took it upon themselves to solve it. But, then, who knows when the NBA would ever play again.”

 Douglas Hartmann, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota and the author of Race, Culture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete, claims that the aversion to supporting Black athletes in political discussion has been a “...pattern since the late 1960s. People try to protect this sacred space of sport. What doesn’t happen is engaging the protesters’ actual ideas about race and racism.”

How can we continue to allow Black Americans and athletes, who we claim to love and support, feel hopeless about the society they live in? White sports fans who love the NBA are supporting an organization made up of 75% Black athletes. But when their favorite players speak up about the injustice they face on a daily basis--even as wealthy, famous athletes--the majority of white fans resent them. It’s truly frightening to think about. White people who call themselves “fans” and who idolize these players, won’t support their favorite players when they are calling out for our help.