Tuesday, November 24, 2015

All That Power

If there ever was a time for black athletes to stand up for justice and a bigger cause than pay dirt, this is it – and it scares the piss out of the traditional power structure.

This is bigger than surrendering a scholarship to a Power Five school or being ripped to shreds on social media for speaking the truth. To help illustrate my arguments, I will sprinkle in some Kanye West lyrics because you love to roast him in spite of how relevant the brother is for our time. It also exposes the twisted hypocrisy the relationship between the black athlete and America fandom, specifically the delusional fan bases. I should know – my home state has one of the nation’s most rabid sports fans, and many of them have no regard for black athletes beyond the field or court, particularly if the baller chooses to attend college away from the flagship university or neatly points out inequality within society.

For many super fans, elite football and basketball players no longer are humanized:  for their supernatural acts on the field or court to help the home team to victory, they are classified as gods and gladiators who are expected to put up thirty points and ten assists nightly as they guide their squads to multiple undefeated seasons and national titles. Their exchange in the deal:  an athletic scholarship that inevitably minimizes the scholar part as an indirect result of countless hours in the gym, weight room, film sessions, on the road for away contests, and in-season appearances to an obsessed fan base. If they are able to graduate in four, five or six years, it would have been a journey few have traveled yet what are the professional prospects thereafter?

If the same recruit takes his talents out of state, does he owe anyone an apology for doing what is best for him?

Arkansas Razorbacks fans are why I no longer support Division I athletics – the top homegrown products are not enslaved to the school on the Hill. Maybe freewill does not apply to black athletes as it does when high-performing students get accepted into Ivy League or prestigious medical or law schools, but that’s none of my business. Besides, what is a scholarship worth if the opportunities are not parlayed into a springboard for success?

I’ve been workin’ this graveshift and I ain’t made shit
I wish I could buy me a spaceship and fly past the sky
I’ve been workin’ this graveshift and I ain’t made shit
I wish I could buy me a spaceship and fly past the sky
-Kanye West, “Spaceship”

Sidebar:  I graduated thirteen years ago from HSU with virtually no student loan debt thanks to full academic scholarships which averaged $6,000 annually that I was able to keep the full four years. Not everyone was blessed with the intellect or the urgency to study hard and pass exams, but I knew my options were limited otherwise. That fifth and final year of undergrad, I won’t talk about it.

A few weeks ago, the University of Missouri football boycott showed that the athletes are not only also students but also had the moxie to put their scholarships and future livelihoods on the line to pursue full justice. Had it just been a computer science or liberal arts student, then it would have likely blown over – apparently difference-makers come a dime a dozen; but since the football team united to not practice or play in the November 14 contest versus Brigham Young University in Kansas City, the school stood to lose millions of dollars plus the expenses incurred in breaking a contract.

No one man should have all that power
The clock’s tickin’ I just count the hours
Stop trippin’ I’m trippin’ off the power
Til them, fuck that the world’s ours
-Kanye West, “Power”

If nothing scares the head coaches at every major Division I football and basketball school making eight to ten times the salary as the administrators, professors both adjunct and tenured, and chancellors, it is the idea of all that power shifting from them to the players. Those presumably thoughtless athletes are becoming more aware of their power and as a result, they are entering the conversation with interesting insight.

Could the resignations in Columbia have occurred on their own merit? Maybe, but not as quickly once the universal lubricant – money – was taken off the table. For some men, the almighty dollar still is what gets them out of bed day in and day out. As for the fan bases (SEC fans are slow to acknowledge it, but the truth is that black athletes are still paraded around like chattel property), their delusions are built in from Day One of the magic Negro.

I know someone is going to parade a Dr. King quote that all people are created equal, but that also includes intellect and the right to assemble and dissent, both of which are covered by the First Amendment. These are eighteen- to twenty-two-year old young men and women who in addition to maintaining a class load are sacrificing blood, sweat, tears, pulled or torn muscles, and even broken bones to make the universities a profit as coaches dangle playing time in front of them.

When you think about it, these are recent high school graduates (or in Bentonville High forward Malik Monk’s case, student) who possess enough power to make or break a legacy. Whether or not they wield it is up to them, yet it is always there.

You see it’s leaders and there’s followers
But I’d rather be a dick than a swallower
-Kanye West, “New Slaves”

In the same dynamic I rip into Razorbacks super fans via the mélange of power, access, ownership, and racial context. Just because they like and support a black athlete doesn’t mean they own him. Clearly that is not the case although they can waddle their fat asses into Wal-Mart to get a Darren McFadden or Bobby Portis jersey of which neither player would have received royalties from their names, likenesses, or numbers as all of the profits went directly to the University of Arkansas. However, the belief that they can regulate a player’s thoughts and behaviors is racist in itself. If you do not believe me, wait and read the comments on social media after an arrest “they’re all thugs!” or upon scoring a touchdown “chest puffs and pelvic thrusts” as the Tennessee woman wrote in her ill-conceived letter to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.

Remember how Cleveland Cavaliers reacted five years ago when LeBron James took his talents to South Beach and joined the Miami Heat? That employed the same mindset – and the most laughable letter in recent history. Comic Sans? Buh-bye.

Growing up, we were taught to be able to clearly articulate complete sentences in public as well as in private. While I am fortunate enough to stay away from the limelight beyond the blog, I also am aware that not everyone has the experiences to communicate effectively beyond “My team played good” or whatever catchphrase Rasheed Wallace used during his NBA days in Portland, Detroit, Atlanta, and any of his other stops. To some fans, anything beyond that simple line before a microphone causes the dog whistles to be blown, effectively saying, “I have given you this power that you possess through my patronage. I own you. Don’t ever forget it!”

For an evolving society, those who still send the hateful tweets or nasty letters concerning the players and coaches are still in the minority albeit a very vocal minority. I still cringe every time I hear the phrase “the prisoners are running the asylum” because it is code for “we need to get them back in their place”.

Brothers and sisters, we have all that power. How we use it determines not only legacies but also the more immediate impacts to social, business, legal, educational, and other policies.




  
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