https://mediumhappi.org/?p=8849
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29752711
This, from Maria Taylor, is eloquent and trenchant. I love how she says that “for years the black body has been a revenue-generating sport.” Or how she notes that the NBA players didn’t have a plan, but they didn’t have to. Because they did not create this problem. Love how she notes that Dylann Roof can shoot up a church of black people and be arrested as if he were jaywalking while Jacob Blake takes seven bullets to the chest for attempting to return to his vehicle.
Roof had murdered nine people. The cops were almost apologetic about it.
I read something yesterday & IF true, I’m not just extremely disappointed but FURIOUS! Allegedly, only a SMALL PERCENTAGE of NBA players are even registered to frickin VOTE! If you want to not just clamor for but DEMAND “social & political change”, the VERY LEAST you must do is VOTE! And this was not in some hit piece on the NBA’s strike of games, it was in a complimentary article! Heck, Sweet Pea’s 1st task for his VOTING org should be to get all his fellow players to register! Sheesh.
Speaking of Sweet Pea, I also read yesterday that he wants (demands) all the NBA owners to get involved with” social change” & put some of their money & power to work for it. Er, does he KNOW who actually owns NBA teams? Some (perhaps the majority?) of these folks not just verbally support Trump & the other GOP-Nazis, they’ve given them MILLIONS. Maybe if pro-athletes keep united & keep threatening work stoppages, they will make such owners exit their sports? It will be interesting to see how much the athletes are willing to personally sacrifice for their ‘convictions’.
And I’ve stayed away from hearing or reading any of the Nazis’ opinion on this inter-sport protest, but I imagine they are throwing the NBA’s “Achilles heel” of CHINA back in their faces. And it pains me to say this but the NBA’s hypocrisy is glaring here. They need to make a decision about their OWN values – MONEY & staying in “business” with an authoritarian regime that imprisons people merely for any anti-government opinions, or their ethnicity, religion &/or race or shut down all current NBA-China “partnerships”. And that means ALL the players need to end their deals too. The impact will be a massive hit to the NBA’s bottom line AND the players’ contracts & sponsorship money. But as the, er, ‘kids’ say : are they gonna just TALK THE TALK or WALK THE WALK? To shut the GOP-NAZIs up (among other goals), they need to GET WALKIN’!
And I’m guessing you already read this, but Sweet Pea had changed his mind after a night’s sleep & re-voted to keep the season going. Whether this is only because it was spelled out for him how ending the season now would lead to a lockout by the owners & all the players possibly getting shafted next year in a new pandemic-influenced contract OR if he really wants to keep playing for a championship is unknown. But, I still believe what I wrote yesterday – that his head/heart is not in it & I’d be shocked if his team wins the Bubble trophy.
Susie B.
I was thinking more about what you wrote. Some thoughts:
1. Why don’t NBA All-Star caliber players opt out of their deals and go play in the Euro League? That would be awesome.
2. You’re completely correct about the NBA and China.
3. I’d like to have seen NBA players end the season and THEN make it their No. 1 priority to register people to vote. How awesome would that be? And it could still happen. For every person breaking curfew (and perhaps a window or two), I wonder what percentage of them are registered to vote? Or will vote? This is the change that needs to happens and NBA players could lead this movement. I’d love to see that. A “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt is fine. A “VOTE ON NOVEMBER 3RD” t-shirt is better.
I understand, and even agree there is a horrible double standard here between how Jacob Blake was “apprehended” and how Dylan Roof was. And, furthermore, that this is disgustingly not an exception to what seems like the rules of engagement (not by far).
That said “apologetic” is a gross exaggeration. At the end of the dash cam video the officers are high-fiving each other, celebrating arresting this monster.
Fair enough. I’ll cop to that, Micah. But how do you think this goes down if the suspect had been black and shot up a white church?