All-White Basketball League: Bringing Segregation Back
by Dave Zirin & David J. Leonard
February 2, 2010
Many in the media are already apoplectic about the infamous launch of the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA). For those untainted by the news, the AABA would be a league exclusively for native-born whites. According to its press release, "only players that are natural-born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league." Citing the predominance of "street ball" within players of color, their lack of fundamentals and the overall incivility of the NBA, Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, denied that the motivation of the league had anything to do with race or racism. "There's nothing hatred about what we're doing. I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like," he argued. "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? That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
The proposed all-white league has pushed all the expected buttons, exponentially adding attention to its slimy venture. Vowing to "Stop All-White Basketball Team," the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP described the AABA as an attempt "to set back what we've been trying to do for 100 years." Charles Barkley expressed similar outrage: "It's just blatantly racist if you look at the code words used. I don't take it seriously, but it just lets you know there's definitely blatant racism out there.... It lets you know, as a black man, there are people out there who don't like you." Others were aghast at the mainstreaming of this kind of ugly bigotry. As Scott Michaux, a columnist at the Augusta Chronicle, said, "sixty-two years after the Dixiecrats dissolved, forty-nine years after the last Caucasian-only clause was stricken from American sports, forty-two years after King was assassinated and just more than a year after we elected our first black president, I hoped this kind of ignorance might be on the wane."
by Dave Zirin & David J. Leonard
February 2, 2010
Many in the media are already apoplectic about the infamous launch of the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA). For those untainted by the news, the AABA would be a league exclusively for native-born whites. According to its press release, "only players that are natural-born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league." Citing the predominance of "street ball" within players of color, their lack of fundamentals and the overall incivility of the NBA, Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, denied that the motivation of the league had anything to do with race or racism. "There's nothing hatred about what we're doing. I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like," he argued. "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? That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
The proposed all-white league has pushed all the expected buttons, exponentially adding attention to its slimy venture. Vowing to "Stop All-White Basketball Team," the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP described the AABA as an attempt "to set back what we've been trying to do for 100 years." Charles Barkley expressed similar outrage: "It's just blatantly racist if you look at the code words used. I don't take it seriously, but it just lets you know there's definitely blatant racism out there.... It lets you know, as a black man, there are people out there who don't like you." Others were aghast at the mainstreaming of this kind of ugly bigotry. As Scott Michaux, a columnist at the Augusta Chronicle, said, "sixty-two years after the Dixiecrats dissolved, forty-nine years after the last Caucasian-only clause was stricken from American sports, forty-two years after King was assassinated and just more than a year after we elected our first black president, I hoped this kind of ignorance might be on the wane."
Read the Full Essay @ The Nation
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About Dave Zirin
Dave Zirin is The Nation's sports editor. He is the author of Welcome to the Terrordome: the Pain Politics and Promise of Sports (Haymarket) and A People's History of Sports in the United States (The New Press). His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated.com and The Progressive. He is the host of Sirius/XM's Edge of Sports Radio.
About David J. Leonard
David J. Leonard is an associate professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University. His next book (SUNY Press) is on the NBA after the November 2004 brawl during a Pacers-Pistons game at the The Palace of Auburn Hills (Michigan).
Dave Zirin is The Nation's sports editor. He is the author of Welcome to the Terrordome: the Pain Politics and Promise of Sports (Haymarket) and A People's History of Sports in the United States (The New Press). His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated.com and The Progressive. He is the host of Sirius/XM's Edge of Sports Radio.
About David J. Leonard
David J. Leonard is an associate professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University. His next book (SUNY Press) is on the NBA after the November 2004 brawl during a Pacers-Pistons game at the The Palace of Auburn Hills (Michigan).
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