It’s absurd and silly.
Those were the words spoken by a member of the White House on the morning after the greatest show of support for Black Americans by professional athletes in the history of this country. And people still seem confused by what’s happening this summer and why people are so angry.
Marc Short, who is the Vice President’s chief of staff, was asked by CNN if Vice President Mike Pence supported the NBA players’ protest of this latest police shooting of an unarmed Black man. The shooting of Jacob Blake in suburban Milwaukee sent people into the streets in protest of police violence, and then a radicalized 17-year-old white teenager armed with an assault rifle allegedly murdered two of the protesters.
Let me ask you this: How does someone from Milwaukee participate in a form of public entertainment when that is happening in their city? Understandably hard to do, so the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play on Wednesday in a show of solidarity for their community. At that point, the entire NBA joined the Bucks in pausing for reflection and so did most teams in Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.
It is anything but absurd and silly yet that’s how a person working in the White House chose to frame it. Short called it all “absurd and silly,” and then later said that if NBA players “want to protest, I don’t think we care.”
And that gets to the heart of the problem. Indifference is worse than hate.
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How could someone be so cruel, but at the same time not even really understand or at least recognize his own malice? The answer is because a lot of white people in this country just don’t care. The gulf between the white world that someone like Short knows, and the Black world that professional athletes are defending are so far apart that it is easier to dismiss it and scoff than to recognize the problem.
So now we are collapsing under the weight of our sins that stretch back through time since before any of us were born. America is aflame and some people refuse to even acknowledge the smell of a fire.
Absurd and silly? Really?
Racism isn’t even the right word for that. It is state-sponsored dehumanization of Black America, and that tradition stretches back a long, long way in this country. Generations have been lost to it. People are hurting and tired. Did you see Robert Horry’s speech on Wednesday? The former Alabama basketball and NBA great was in tears talking about the shooting of Blake and trying to reason with his sons about police brutality.
If that ever happens to you, son, just lie there and take the beating. If you resist, they’ll kill you. Horry said Black men in America are like an endangered species.
“These cops are just killing because they feel like if they don’t have their body cams on, they have a right,” Horry said. “And I tell my kids all the time, I say, ’Dude, I don’t care what’s going on, because at the end of the day, I want you coming home to me. If you have to lay down on the ground and they can kick you, beat you — at least you’re going to go to the hospital, you’re going to come home to me.
“Whatever they say to you, don’t take it upon yourself to let that rage you have against that cop come out. Because he has the gun. He can end you.”
Absurd and silly.
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NBA players have been wearing messages on their jerseys since their return to play to create important conversations in this country. “Freedom” reads the social-justice message on the back of Eric Bledsoe’s jersey. The Birmingham native, who played at Parker and then Kentucky, is a star for the Milwaukee Bucks.
“Equality” read the jersey of Nets power forward Donta Hall, who played at Alabama and is from Luverne.
“Black Lives Matter” says the jersey worn by JaMychal Green, who attended historic St. Jude in Montgomery and played at Alabama.
You don’t have to completely understand, but at least listen and respect the voices of these NBA players. They’re speaking out and raising awareness for Black people because no one else will.
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“They’ve become like a political organization, and that’s not a good thing,” President Donald Trump said of the NBA on Thursday. “I don’t think that’s a good thing for sports or for the country.”
Hey, why acknowledge someone’s pain when it can just be twisted into more political ammunition?
Across the country, pro athletes and teams stopped playing their games to draw attention to injustice in this country. The Mets and Marlins walked off the field before their game on Thursday and placed a Black Lives Matter T-shirt on home plate. It had nothing to do with politics, but Trump tries to make everything political.
In reality, what the NBA did this week was a great thing for America. Do you know how we know this? Because history has proven it so.
On Friday, Major League Baseball will celebrate Jackie Robinson Day at ballparks across America. It draws attention to the history of racial injustice in America every year, and celebrates the man who broke the color barrier.
Jackie Robinson was vilified by white America for what he did. Someone, please tell me what’s changed?
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. He’s on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.
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