The topic of racism in sports has been a major point of debate over the past year. Athletes have taken to the streets as well as social media to voice their concerns on what they see as inequalities facing black Americans in society.
Last week, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving became the latest high-profile athlete to delve into the topic of race ahead of his return to Boston, the city he spent two seasons playing in. When asked about his emotions ahead of the homecoming, the star point guard appeared to call the city — and the Celtics fan base — racist.
“I am just looking forward to competing with my teammates and hopefully, we can just keep it strictly basketball; there’s no belligerence or racism going on — subtle racism,” Irving said. “People yelling sh** from the crowd, but even if it is, it’s part of the nature of the game and we’re just going to focus on what we can control.”
It was a knee-jerk response, and one that clearly was meant to aggravate the Celtics fan base and get his name in the news. Remember, this is the same player who firmly stood by his stance that the earth is flat, before eventually admitting he was just having fun. Irving has also discussed the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians — unprompted — in past weeks, claiming that people were being killed in the conflict “based on their religion, color of their skin, what they believe in.”
It’s obvious what Irving is doing: he’s intentionally stirring the already boiling pot of race relations in America in order to get his name in the news.
This doesn’t mean that the topic should be ignored altogether, however.
I prefer to listen to players like Jaylen Brown.
Brown, a University of California, Berkeley alumni, has been a wonderful interview from the moment he was drafted by the Celtics. He’s intelligent, thoughtful, and historically aware. Brown was asked about Irving’s comments on the city of Boston, and his response — though many will disagree — was fantastic. Brown spoke for several minutes and did not take any questions from reporters.
I have a perspective to share. I’ve kind of seen the things floating around with Boston and the topic of racism. People around me urged that I should share my perspective. I have not talked to anyone — Kyrie, Marcus or Danny Ainge — about my thoughts or my perspective, but I do think it’s a good conversation. I think that racism should be addressed, and/or systemic racism should be addressed in the city of Boston, and it also should be addressed in the United States.
However, I do not like the manner it was brought up, in terms of centering around a playoff game. It bothers me if — the construct of racism, right? It’s used as a crutch or an opportunity to execute a personal gain. I’m not saying that’s the case, but I do think racism right now is bigger than basketball, and I do think racism is bigger than Game 3 of the playoffs. So I want to urge the media to paint that narrative as well, because when it’s painted in that manner it’s insensitive to people who are actually dealing with racism on a daily basis: the constructs and the constraints of systemic racism in our school system, inequality in education, lack of opportunity, lack of resources, adequate housing, affordable housing, adequate health care, tokenism and the list goes on. So I recognize my privilege as an athlete. Once you get to a certain point, nothing that you experience overtakes the experiences that people deal with on a daily basis. So I want to emphasize that as well.
I understand the frustration right now. I’ve seen what’s going on in sports and in sporting arenas with the two incidents, obviously with Russell Westbrook and Trae Young, and I’m pissed, to be honest. I don’t think we should have to put up with that, and I don’t think that’s OK by any means necessary. But when I look in the media and I see those incidents attached to like a frame of racism, yes, I think it’s important to address those situations. But if the topic is racism, I think that those incidents don’t compare, or those belligerent comments don’t compare to what systemic racism is currently doing in our community and has done in the past. So it’s important to frame it in that context.
I think that racism — I think that not every Celtics fan, I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist. We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think by painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question. The incarceration rate is ridiculous. The wealth disparity is embarrassing. The inequality in education, specifically in Boston public schools, needs to be better. There’s a lack of resources there, lack of opportunity. The tokenism here in Boston needs to be addressed as well. But if we’re going to talk about it, and that’s what the media is going to bring up, I think a sporting arena, things might exist. But in the real world things exist to far different extremities. So I definitely wanted to share my perspective. And this is my opinion, of course, and people can challenge that. I definitely think, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
But that’s it, really. I’m not really answering any questions, guys, I just wanted to share my perspective. Thank you.
There are parts of his statement that I have trouble with — particularly his comments on systemic racism — but he thought about what he was going to say before disseminating it to the public. I value individuals who take the time to understand issues before speaking on them.
Brown also makes a wonderful point when discussing his privilege. We often see athletes — particularly NBA athletes — acting as if their incredible wealth hasn’t granted them special privileges, that they are just like everyone else.
Kudos and a tip of the cap to Jaylen Brown. Just maybe, with more people like Brown willing to have open conversations, our nation will cease to be as divided as it is today.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.