Malcolm X warned us a long time ago to be leery of symbolic victories versus justice and actual progress.
“The whole world can see it. All this little tokenism that is dangled in front of the Negro and then he's told, "See what we're doing for you”
~Malcolm X
Enter symbolic gestures:
Boston Red Sox unveil a 250 foot Black Lives Matter billboard next to Fenway
NHL Hockey fans will be greeted with a Black Lives Matter message every time they enter into NHL 20
https://fansided.com/2020/06/11/nhl-20-features-black-lives-matter-pop-up-screen/
NBA unveils Black Lives Matter on court
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29510169/nba-unveils-black-lives-matter-orlando-court
Roger Goodell makes statement saying he was wrong on player protests and encourages players to use their voices
At first I thought all this is great. All of these professional teams and organizations and coaches and even Roger Goodell all making tweets and statements proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. Unifying decrees exhibiting the solidarity that is sweeping across the entire sports world. Allies in high places looking into the camera and passionately proclaiming that Black Lives Matter. Every NBA franchise including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, through a statement or public comment from a high ranking official condemning the killing of George Floyd, and again declaring that Black Lives do in fact Matter.
https://www.nba.com/article/2020/05/31/nba-teams-respond-tragic-death-george-floyd
And not just generic statements but they went into detail.
The Dallas Mavericks said “ "We will NOT stand for injustice, inequity, and disparity. History goes through phases. Phases in Restoring (justice), Rebuilding (communities) and Rebounding (as people)."
The Bulls said “There is a crisis in our country, and we need to redouble our efforts and work harder than ever.”
The Brooklyn Nets said “ Our hearts are broken by the attacks on the personal safety and dignity of the Black community.”
The Golden State Warriors said “ We condemn, in no uncertain terms, racism and violence perpetrated against members of the Black community”
The Miami Heat said “ we deeply mourn the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others, whom we have lost to acts of extreme and excessive violence against African-Americans”
The Washington Wizards said “ "The death of George Floyd, and many other black Americans, is unconscionable. We believe that there needs to be action and leadership to tackle and address the social injustices and inequities in systemic racism.”
Every NBA team made a similar statement. And for this I have to give a lot of the credit to Adam Silver for constantly setting the example for the entire league to follow from his first day of taking over the reins when he had to deal with the Donald Sterling situation. He has made it clear that he will stand and speak out for justice and against racism.
As I was looking at all of these teams make statements I thought to myself, was this a new beginning ? How beautiful is it that the entire sports world has finally reached a universal point of empathy and are collectively using their voices to take a stand. But then I started to notice that it at least appeared that police violence and brutality seemed to have actually gotten worse after George Floyd’s murder and I thought to myself, we need much more.
Don’t get me wrong, these statements are incredibly powerful for any NBA CEO (I don’t like to call them owners for obvious reasons) and teams and organization to publicly make, but are these statements enough ?
I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed the twitter exchange between Dallas Mavericks CEO Mark Cuban and Ted Cruz that started over Ted’s opposition to players taking a knee. I thought Mark Cuban handled him brilliantly by challenging him to say Black Lives Matter and Ted Cruz of all people conceding and actually saying Black Lives Matte, but in this exchange, they got away from the overall point which was police accountability when they murder an unarmed Black Man or Black Woman which is the reason for the kneeling.
In addition, it’s powerful to see NBA TV constantly run their commercial about social justice and seeing NBA CEO’s Mickey Arison (Miami Heat) and Wyc Grousbeck (Boston Celtics) proclaiming Black Lives Matter while looking into the camera , but the question is, can these professional teams and organizations and billionaire CEO’s use their power and influence to bring about tangible change beyond their statements of support and solidarity ? Definitely
What if NBA CEO’s took active roles in their respective cities at pressuring police departments to move toward specific police reform and police accountability ? It’s not as if they don’t have any power in their cities. If you think Mark Cuban doesn’t have any political influence and power in the city of Dallas or Mickey Arison in Miami you are greatly mistaken. They are billionaires. Not millionaires like the players who have been doing an amazing job protesting, using their influence, their power and their voices, but Billionaires (with a B) which is a whole nother level of power and influence.
What if they took on the quick resulting method Fed Ex just displayed for the world to see ?
Enter Washington Football Team:
After decades of NFL CEO Dan Snyder stubbornly refusing to change the name of his franchise despite petitions and pleas and demonstrations from countless Native American tribes and the entire public at large because it was a racist and offensive slur to Native Americans, all of a sudden he had a change of heart. Why ? Not because he had an Ebeneezer Scrooge moment after he was visited by the ghost of Christmas Past and wanted to right his wrongs, it was because sponsors like Fed Ex said,
“change the name or the organization will lose them as a sponsor”
And poof, just like that, the name was changed because that’s what moves the needle, when you threaten to negatively effect an organization’s bottom line. Wu Tang told us a long time ago, Cash Rules Everything Around Me, and they were absolutely right.
What if the NBA used their power and influence to pressure cities to threaten to cut the funding of police departments if they didn’t adopt tangible police reform and enforce police accountability ? I bet you would see immediate results just as you did with the Washington Football Team.
This is something that could be done across sports NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL. An entire movement. This would be a way for them to push for real change. Donating to organizations who are fighting for change is great like many of the tech companies have done,
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/12/george-floyd-protests-tech-company-responses.html
But this would be coming directly from them. This is a way to take a more active role in instigating real tangible change in their respective cities instead of waiting for the players (who don’t have the level of influence that they have) to “speak” on these issues.
Let me be clear, nobody is against all police, but every organization needs checks and balances. Nobody in society can have carte blanche to do as they please and unfortunately, that is the incredibly dysfunctional situation we have fallen into with our police departments. No accountability.
So while the declarations are great, and Black Lives Matter painted on the court and the field is a bold statement, and I guess singing the Black National Anthem before NFL games is...... something ? It needs to go far beyond that in order to bring about real change.
Tiffany Crutcher (sister of Terence Crutcher who was murdered in Tulsa Oklahoma by Officer Betty Shelby,
told me when I interviewed her for my book We Matter “Athletes And Activism”
“We get moved by the moment....we’re angry, we’re outraged, and then we move on to the next thing.... let’s put some pressure, not just on the local government, but we need to put pressure on Jeff Sessions, on Donald Trump, and let them know that we’re not going to stand for this.”
Who better to apply that pressure than billionaire CEO’s of professional teams and the sports leagues themselves. They can use their influence beyond powerful proclamations and push for tangible results. Again, the statements are great, but in this day and age, we need much more
