BELIEVE IT OR NOT!The All-American Basketball Alliance plans to start a 12-team professional league in June, made up entirely of white players. “Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league.” They released the press statement last Sunday, the day before Martin Luther King Day.
AABA commissioner Don “Moose” Lewis claims the restrictions are not racism, but simply providing a forum for whites who are “in the minority now” to play the “fundamental basketball” they enjoy.
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of “street-ball” played by “people of color.” He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas’ indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans’ dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
“Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?” he said. “That’s the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction.”
The league, based in Atlanta, hopes to play in 12 cities throughout the Southeast. They have not had much luck.
That last sentence, "They have not had much luck." pretty much sums it up. If the media does not play into their "give us attention" ploy, this will pass. Some things are better not publicized.
ReplyDeletein the words of Miles Davis' horn.. "So What?"
ReplyDeleteI won't be a fan or patronize this league. However, this is no different than the Black Journalist Association, the United Negro College Fund or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. When both sides of the color line quit excluding the other, then these sorts of things will go away for good.
ReplyDeleteGreg,
ReplyDeleteyou make a good point but there is a small difference. As a White man you can join and will be accepted into the NAACP or the National Association of Black Journalists...But this basketball league explicitly says Blacks can't join them no matter what unless they magically turn White. There's the difference.
I understand that small difference Isaiah.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if a white man joined the NAACP, what benefit would there be? It would be akin to this idiot basketball league allowing blacks to join a team but mandate that they must only sit on the bench and not participate. If a white man petitioned the UNCF for help in funding college, would it do any good or is it only open for whites to donate, not receive?
Inclusive names and inclusive agendas always exclude somebody. Whenever that inclusiveness is based on race it becomes a racist organization whether it is a benefit or a hindrance to the color of your particular skin.
I guess what I am saying is just because you say one doesn't suck as bad as the other doesn't mean that the lesser doesn't suck.
Greg,
ReplyDeleteIf you see the world as a place that you'd like to improve - a White man joining the NAACP would benefit society - it would promote a color blond America where Whites fight for Blacks and Blacks fight for Whites. Then NAACP would just fade away and it'd be just you and I.
But if you're looking for only self and personal gratification then there (joining NAACP) would be absolutely no benefit to a White man - that's if you think that way!
Let's pray that is the way it would be.
ReplyDelete(and sorry for misspelling your name, that was an accident)
In a color blind America, there would be no NAACP or white basketball league.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to add one additional difference between this new basketball team and the NAACP and UNCF: The NAACP was founded in 1909; UNCF was incorporated in 1943; and this "team"...created this year 2010!
ReplyDeleteWe can debate whether one or the other pre-civil rights associations are still necessary, but no one can deny that the NAACP (nor UNCF) was not a necessity at its inception. This team on the other hand seems to be nothing more than a desperate attempt at attention with a hidden agenda.