I remember during the NBA labor negotiations of 2005. I was on the NBA Executive Committee, the Malice in The Palace had just happened, and David Stern and the NBA were in full crises mode and wanted to instill a dress code because of the “perception” of Black NBA players in particular and the possibility of Black players scaring white season ticket holders and viewers away. They wanted to make us all less “threatening” to the larger white audience.
Around that time I remember telling then executive director Billy Hunter that NBA Hall Of Fame coach Phil Jackson had made some statements that I really found offensive. As reported by the Sun, Jackson said
“The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it’s like gangster, thuggery stuff. It’s time. It’s been time to do that.”
Now, I have always worn my clothes baggy since high school. That was the style. But I took great offense to him basically saying that we all looked like thugs because of our clothes. There were even a rumor that they wanted to outlaw locs and braids. That never happened but the rumor was floating around. And Phil Jackson at that time, had no problem echoing the same sentiments I would hear on Fox News stereotyping an entire generation of young Black Men in particular.
And It was at that point I knew exactly what Phil Jackson thought of us.
So it came as no surprise when last week, on a podcast with iconic music producer Rick Rubin, legendary coach Phil Jackson discussed becoming disappointed and uninterested with the NBA as a whole because of what he observed during the bubble season of 2020 that included the words Black Lives Matter being painted on the floor of the court. In addition to entire teams collectively taking a knee during the National Anthem and wearing Black Lives Matter across the front of their warmups.
This was the NBA’s response to a summer that saw George Floyd being murdered by officer Derek Chauvin and Breonna Taylor, a 26 year old Black Woman who was killed in her apartment in Louisville Kentucky when at least seven police officers served a no knock warrant , Jacob Blake being shot multiple times in the back in broad daylight in front of his children by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin and countless others.
The entire country was in an uproar as protests and demonstrations across the country broke records numbers. People of all races, colors, nationalities, and cultures were letting their voices be heard. And NBA players were not on the sideline but were active participants in that movement.
However, this apparently didn’t sit too well with coach Phil Jackson (who led the Bulls to 6 titles in the 90s) who told Rick Ruben
“They even had slogans on the floor and on the baseline. It was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience to the game,” Jackson said on a recent episode of storied music producer Rick Rubin’s podcast. “They didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political. Politics stays out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”
“They had things on their back like ‘Justice’ and a funny thing happened like, ‘Justice’ just went to the basket and ‘Equal Opportunity’ knocked him down,” he continued. “Some of my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names; I couldn’t watch that.”
This from the person who has received an onslaught of praise for his alleged “foreword thinking” and his embrace of Eastern Philosophy, and progressive ideologies, and Zen Master, and peace and tranquillity etc etc ?
The “things on their back” Jackson was referring to was Justice, Equal Opportunity, Vote, Peace etc, shouldn’t that be right up his alley of his alleged foreword thinking ? Does peace for all not include Black people ?
How is it possible that someone who has made a living off of coaching Black players such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaq, Kobe Bryant and many more would be triggered by athletes expressing that their lives matter ? How could Jackson be so disgusted to the point that he can no longer watch the game as a whole even after the focus on social activism shifts from where it was back in 2020 ?
It begs the question did Phil Jackson ever see the lives of Black athletes he coached over his career as actually being of any significance beyond the borders of an NBA court ? Or were we all just commodities to him ? Assets. Or as William Rhoden coined, 40 Million Dollar Slaves, who are not respected for their opinions, minds, or intellect and should never have the mitigated gall to actually express that they should be treated as equals to people who look like Phil Jackson ?
What Phil Jackson calls “politics” wasn’t really political at all.
In addition, this was disrespectful to the countless family members of victims of police brutality who incredibly value athletes using their voices and their platforms to bring awareness to their loved ones who were killed at the hands of police.
As Emerald Garner (daughter of Eric Garner) told me in her new book Finding My Voice (which I co wrote)
“All of the players on the Brooklyn Nets at the time and Kobe and all of the Lakers team supported my family after my father was choked to death by the NYPD. Back then, every time I turned on the TV, all I saw were people justifying his murder and saying why my father deserved to die. When they were putting Black Lives Matter on the front of their shirts, it wasn’t about promoting an organization, they were using their tremendous platforms to take a stand and saying that our lives mattered. That my father’s life mattered. That George Floyd’s life mattered. That Breonna Taylor’s life mattered. It meant so much to us impacted family members. I will forever be thankful to the NBA and all the athletes who stood with us for that.”
Hopefully, Phil Jackson could share more of this message with his grandchildren and they would no longer find it amusing that NBA athletes have the moral courage to bravely take a public stance against racism and police brutality and advocate on behalf of justice and equality.
