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Commissioner Adam Silver has had a relatively historic reign since he’s taken over the NBA. His first major decision came when former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned for life and stripped of all ownership ties to the league when tapes of him using racial slurs were released.
Silver has been lauded as a progressive, open-minded leader: quite different than his predecessor.
This week, though, there has been some inconsistency.
After it had been previously threatened and debated upon, Silver formerly announced that the NBA is moving its annual All Star Game festivities from Charlotte, NC because of the controversial HB2 law, which limits anti-discrimination legal protections for the LGBT community there. According to Charlotte’s Business Journal, the loss of this revenue would cost the city more than $285 million and an excess of 1,300 jobs. Silver’s decision to force the hands of lawmakers in NC were applauded, a shining positive example of how our cherished institutions can use their leverage for social good. Hitting the pockets of those in power is how you start to affect change right?
But nearly two days later, in the WNBA, the story of fines being levied against its players and three teams for protesting broke via social media.
Players from the New York Liberty donned #blacklivesmatter #dallas5 t-shirts. 4 players from the Minnesota Lynx made national headlines when their t-shirts specifically memorialized Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, the two most recent black men whose lives were lost at the hands of cops. The front of the shirts they donned stated, “Change Starts With Us” echoes the recent message that was delivered very clearly and publicly at the ESPY Awards by NBA star Carmelo Anthony, along with fellow stars Chris Paul, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade.
It’s the same war cry of social justice that has been taken up by every generation. However, the response of the WNBA was not supportive. The league has fined these women and their teams for their acts of protest.
These fines and the message they sent to WNBA players are laughably hypocritical.
For starters, NBA players have been protesting in a myriad of ways for the past few years. When the Clippers players decided to protest Sterling’s position as team owner by tossing their warm-up jerseys off at center-court and turning their shooting shirts inside-out, they weren’t fined. What they did was technically against the rules. But Sterling’s actions and words were so despicable that we cheered them on.
When LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and several others wore “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts—the haunting last words of Eric Garner– there were no fines or pushback. In fact, I recall people being happy because James had finally taken a stance on such a passionate national topic.
As noted above, the 2016 ESPYs opened with Anthony and James being joined on stage by Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade imploring other athletes to not only use their voices to influence change but to call attention to the frustration of a broken system. “It won’t always be convenient. It won’t always be comfortable. But it is necessary” said Wade, as the four strong, bold, courageous black men stood up there. We were captivated. We believed.
So why is it different because a group of black female players is saying the exact same thing in their uniforms?
It isn’t. The puzzlingly inconsistent decisions made by Commissioner (albeit one of them indirectly) demonstrate why companies cannot straddle the fence of activism.
Discrimination is discrimination. You can’t cherry-pick which type you won’t tolerate simply because there’s a financial bottom line attached to it.
It’s obvious that moving the All-Star Game festivities was going to hurt the economy of the city of Charlotte and the state of NC. But the NBA has also set a precedent for other major league sports. Silver was well-aware of the ramifications which is why he gave policymakers a chance to do what was right.
On the topic at hand, this country has a disturbing relationship with black players in which we want them to “shut up and play” while we hail social justice champions like Muhammad Ali and Tommie Smith. Silver erring on the side of WNBA leadership and agreeing with the fines is a slap in the face to the female players though because it demonstrates a clear double standard between the two adjacent entities.
What should have been a sign of solidarity and support was dampened in a press conference in which Silver doubled down with the following statement: ” … to use … a game, pregame, as a political forum, I think it’s a dangerous road for us to go down. I would greatly prefer that the players use the platform they’re given, social media, press conferences, media in locker rooms, however, they want to do it, to make their political points of view be known.”
Protesting isn’t meant to be palatable. It’s not meant to be likable. And it certainly isn’t meant to be done in “preferred” spaces as Mr. Silver suggests. When it comes to wanting athletes to be activists, you can’t have it both ways and you can’t dictate how and when they do it. Commissioner Silver is doing his best to push the NBA forward as a brand by minimizing risks with both fans and sponsors. Although, he has to tread carefully with social activism and its place in the NBA. If things keep going as they’re going in the world, you can’t expect players to comply to these silly uniform rules forever.
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*** UPDATE***
The New York Times reported today that the WNBA has reconsidered its position and would be rescinding the fines they had issued:
“While we expect players to comply with league rules and uniform guidelines, we also understand their desire to use their platform to address important societal issues,” Borders said. “Given that the league will now be suspending play until Aug. 26 for the Olympics, we plan to use this time to work with our players and their union on ways for the players to make their views known to their fans and the public.”
Glad they saw the light and came around on this one…after public uproar like the above article.
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Watch this related video by Fusion:
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