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Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #809 - NBA needs to Defend Better
Hi Mom,
So, things are happening.
I am actually writing this on Sunday morning when I have learned that the Pittsburgh Steelers will stay in the locker room during the National Anthem before their game with the Bears in protest. The Jacksonville Jaguars playing in London all locked arms and knelt during the anthem. All of these things and more are in response to the political climate in the country and the words and actions of the "president" who has gone on the attack against black athletes calling for their suspension or firing if they "disrespect the flag" as well as revoking his invitation to the reigning championship Golden State Warriors because some of the players were not interested in visiting the "president" and receiving the "honor" of his recognition for their championship. Miffed that these athletes do not endorse his reckless and hateful administration, he uninvited them. Meanwhile, to stir the pot during a rally in Alabama -- not the country's most progressive area -- Trump called out NFL athletes for their protests and criticized the NFL as an organization for not doing enough to stop these protests.
The NFL actually came out more strongly in support of player protests than the NBA, as this article indicates. The NBA commissioner needed to make a stronger statement, if not actions, against at the very least the divisive and hostile actions of this man who has somehow been elected president and the very most (and quite obviously) racist and hateful rhetoric against one of the fundamental rights that supposedly makes America great: freedom of speech.
Perhaps Trump should be fired for disrespecting the flag as he does daily with petty, hostile, angry, trolling, and unintelligent Twitter messages, exercising his own freedom of the speech while at the same time wanting to negate that right for others and to remove many of their other rights as well (healthcare, clean environment, national parks, residency in the US, freedom of choice, and so much more).
The president is a loose cannon and that's about the nicest thing I could say about him. I am astounded on a daily basis at just what a colossal asshole he is, and that's also one of the nicest things I can say about him.
This article caught my attention.
Hope you like it.
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2017/9/24/16356874/donald-trump-warriors-white-house-stephen-curry-nba-response-adam-silver?yptr=yahoo?src=rss
Stephen Curry deserved more from the NBA
The league and the Warriors’ front office should learn a lesson from how individual players defended Curry and the Warriors.
President Donald Trump announced Saturday morning on Twitter that Stephen Curry had been disinvited from the White House over criticisms the two-time NBA MVP had levied a day prior. This sparked a day of reaction from various corners of the basketball world.
Meanwhile, the president’s harsh criticisms of NFL players protesting police brutality and racial inequality — including calls for them to be suspended or fired — set up a large-scale Black Athletes vs. Trump narrative for the weekend.
What’s most notable about the vast NBA reaction to the president’s attack on Curry is whose statements were blunt, direct, and effective.
It’s not the statements coming on official letterhead from the commissioner, the Warriors, or even the players’ union. Those have been soft and a little tortured.
This has been especially pronounced because the statements from players themselves have been so forceful and unyielding.
Start with The King.
U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!
A few hours later, LeBron expanded on this thoughts about the perils of the president using sports as a platform to divide Americans.
That opened the floodgates as Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, David West, and Robin Lopez — clever as ever — jumped into the fray.
Is this how it’s going to be? No one expects a franchise owner to call the sitting president a “bum.” No one expects Adam Silver to joke about impeachment. And certainly coaches Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, and Stan Van Gundy have been among the most forceful, cogent critics of the president in all of sports.
But this is an inflection point. This is a critical moment. And this is what we’re getting?
The sitting president attacked the face of your franchise for having the temerity to oppose racism, support protest, and decline an invitation for a ceremonial photo op. And this is the response?
The defense of the right of expression is nice, as is the specific mention of the president’s name. (Most NFL teams who issued statements left even that out.)
Yet this statement does not accurately reflect what happened: The players were opposed to a visit for obvious reasons related to racism and white supremacy emanating from the White House, management wanted a chance to change the players’ minds in the spirit of “open dialogue” with the president, and the president put the kibosh on the whole thing because he didn’t want to have an open dialogue about having an open dialogue. Kerr, Joe Lacob, Bob Myers — they thought the Warriors could use this visit to have a discourse with the president. The players knew what a lie that was.
Nor did the Warriors take the opportunity to trumpet exactly what community and charity work their players do on a regular basis already. Such as Curry’s work with the U.N. Foundation’s bed-net program to fight malaria in refugee camps. Or Draymond Green’s involvement with RISE. Or Kevin Durant’s effort to build community basketball courts all over the country. Or even the franchise’s annual trips to San Quentin. Those examples would have shed necessary light on ways the players actually “celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion.”
Kerr did speak with candor and strength later on Saturday. It’s a shame none of that made it into the Warriors’ official statement.
Silver, who expertly handled the Donald Sterling debacle in his earliest days in charge of the NBA, might as well have sat out on Saturday. His three sentences do three things:
- Reiterate his now-dashed hope that the Warriors would visit the White House
- Express disappointment they won’t
- Offer platitudes about players using their political voices
Nowhere does Silver defend one of the faces of the league from attack by the president of the United States. Nowhere does Silver point out that the president is responsible for the visit not happening at all. Nowhere does Silver explicitly commend the Warriors’ players for acting with grace the president is unable to conjure.
More importantly, nowhere does Silver even acknowledge the specific objections the NBA community has raised in response to Trump's policies and rhetoric. Nowhere does Silver acknowledge Trump’s long, racist campaign to delegitimize the nation’s first black president; or Trump’s revanchist, racist politics; or Trump expressing more empathy for neo-Nazis wielding torches and firearms than black athletes kneeling silently.
Stephen Curry was attacked by the sitting president of the United States, and neither his franchise nor his league fully defended him. So it is left to LeBron.
Thankfully, he’s up to the task. But he can’t do it alone.
It’s time for the league’s other power structure — Silver and the 30 franchise owners -- to step up and join the fight.
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Reflect and connect.
Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.
I miss you so very much, Mom.
Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.
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- Days ago = 811 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1709.23 - 10:10
NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.
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