Black NBA Players Need ‘Race On the Platter to Act’ – Then Back to Neglecting Black Masses

By Walter L. Hilliard III

After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned the Los Angeles Clippers Donald Sterling because of his racist remarks about not wanting her to bring Blacks, including Ervin “Magic” Johnson, at games, NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neil said he gave Commissioner Adam Silver an A+; fellow analyst Kenny Smith said his instinct about how wonderful Silver was was correct; and Charles Barkley said “Wow!”

But nobody, initially, including most of the media and the players, through their rep Kevin Johnson, a former player and current mayor of Sacramento, California, demanded Sterling had to go, and if he did not, players and fans would begin protesting.

The reality is that the players, all 360 to 450 – depending on how many each teams carries, which can be 12 to 15 at any given time – are responsible for the league even existing. Yes, the greatest players in the world make it possible for not only the owners to make the money they make, especially from fans and TV contracts, but these mostly Black players, who make up about 80 percent of the league, are also making it possible for the NBA’s league office staff, which is only about 18 percent Black, to make a great living. It’s a situation that’s really no different than African slaves, who could physically deal with the sun’s excessive heat and resist disease, building America’s wealth by working in the tobacco and cotton fields for 18 hours a day.

However, what’s fascinating is it’s so easy for Black NBA players and the media to rally and criticize an overt racist owner like Sterling, but they never organize to speak up about anti-Black racism or social issues devastating the Black communities that produced and supported them when they were “broke nobodies.” And although many followed Miami Heat star LeBron James in honoring Trayvon Martin’s death by posting pictures in hoodies online, the effort was really weak because they continue to not put their money where their mouth is or go into these communities and support Black youth in curbing gun violence, poverty and unemployment.

But I must say it’s pretty funny to see bougie Blacks like Kevin Johnson speaking out against racism when he and his wife, Michelle Rhee, the former D.C. School head (and the woman who fired tons of Black teachers) are charter school proponents. Charter schools are typically privately owned business enterprises sucking funds out of the public or inner city school system, hundreds of which have been closed.

So the fact is that these Black “all of a sudden yaw want to fight racism” players are only demanding Sterling’s removal because he’s belittling them and their NBA Brothers, most of whom are rich, but they rarely have much to say about racism the rest of Black folks face in everyday life. Why haven’t they – along with Black entertainers – organized and attacked President Barack Obama to do something about the shootings and murders going on in Chicago and other major and minor cities? Why haven’t they organized and demanded Obama do something about double-Black unemployment, or the Prison Industrial Complex, or . . . well, you get the picture.

And why is it that the richest, most powerful Blacks are always the most scared group of Black people? Some say because they have the most to lose because they think White folks will take their money or halt their endorsements and other opportunities; however, nobody is really going into their bank accounts, and their whole “game” is about selfishness, not the well-being of the Black masses.

Point made.