White Men Can't Accessorize
SportsChat is in a state of shock. It’s normally so hard to take the news seriously. But every once in a while there is a story so offensive that you can stop pretending to care who Tiger Woods is sleeping with.
An all-white basketball league called the All-American Basketball Alliance is looking to get off the ground in 12 cities this summer.
League commissioner Don “Moose” Lewis said there is a need for the league because the NBA has “shut out” white players. SportsChat calls that discrimination based on athletic talent.
All joking aside, this is messed up. This is happening today, not in black and white news reel footage from the 1950’s. SportsChat is not the preachy type, but this is the sort of thing that truly should have us all up in arms. This is beyond excusing as the typical ass-hattery of the celebutards cluttering our bandwidth.
The “alliance” has laid out straight-up racist criteria for players interested in signing up: Players must be born in the U.S. (because obviously Americans are the only real white people), both parents must be white (SportsChat isn’t sure whether you just check a box, or a group of neo-Nazi thugs visits your parents home/office to confirm) and tattoos must be kept to a minimum (we can assume “a minimum” means “prominent swastikas preferred”).
Even in his denial, Lewis exposed himself as an unapologetic bigot when asked if his league was racist:
No. It’s not gonna be the street-type ball mentality. It’s going to be different.
That is worse than Scott Baio using the old “some of my wife’s best friends are black” routine. That’s the thing about racists. They are so out of touch with what is right and just that their explanations often condemn them as much as their initial transgression.
Lewis called the whites-only angle a great marketing tool and a form of “nostalgia entertainment.” Oh, for those halcyon days in Atlanta when black players were forced to defer to far inferior talents or expect to be traded, or worse, “blackballed” permanently.
This news clip from a local Atlanta affiliate is pretty jaw dropping:
SportsChat is confident that this league will fail because Americans will not stand for it.
But just the fact that someone would try and pull something like this should be a clenched fist in the face to anyone who really thinks we live in a post-racial America.
J says:
Its seems a little hypocritical to have someone from the NAACP comment. I support this all the way. You can call it racist all you want, but please explain how its racist and if you do compare it to NAACP or UNCF.
Here, call this racism and then I will accept that you believe an all white basketball league is racist.
http://www.missblackga.org/
TIM says:
AMEN BROTHER,
Just like BET, where's WET? I think it's great in a sport where all that matters now a days is who jumps the highest and who can pull out a gun the fastest in the locker room.
Randy says:
Why not? White Americans don't have the united Negro Collage fund. As I see it thats racism. But does anyone say anything about that NO. Don't get me wrong I am not a racist but when White people want something other than welfare it's rasism. I don't understand. Please if someone could shed some light on this please feel free to do so.
ven says:
Where is Rush on this?
He needs to get out on the front of this story and explain to America that this is needed due to the fact that white basketball players are many times at a disadvantage against black basketball players.
Its the only way to level the field.
It might not be as entertaining and surely you wont see the athleticism thats seen in the NBA - but at least these ball players wont stand out for their under-achievment.
I say way to go!!!!
Rob says:
I agree, how can you call this racism? As mention above, NAACP, BET, Black Grammy Awards etc...why does everything need to turn to racism when it is for a single race/color/creed? This is the 21st century and the only way racism is going to go away is when people stop incinuating that something is racist...but you have Al Sharpten, Jesse Jackson and those guys that fuel the fire to keep the hatred going!!!!
Jerry says:
Go for it!!! Talk about being a minority,whites are being forced into minority! Talk about racists,Jesse Jackson ,Al Sharpten, NAACP ( Niggers Against All Caucasion People)Forget pollitical correctness!!!!!!!!!!
TC says:
I find it interesting that both parents MUST be white. At least the NAACP, BET, Black Grammy Awards, UNICEF and others do not have a criteria that both parents must be black. My mother in law is irish, dutch, and black yet to pass her on the street, you would never know. To judge someone on the basis of their skin, age, and gender (visual factors), at a minimum, can cause you to miss out on an opportunity to get to know someone who could be truly amazing. That person could be someone who is there, in your life, precisely when you need them. At that moment, I'm sure you don't care what they look like.
TC says:
UNCF not UNICEF
john says:
Larry Bird would not be recruited in today's "street ball" NBA. That is sad. The NBA is sad.
I do not watch it. I would watch good, fundamental basketball. If they are all white.....so much the better.
By the way Mason, don't call this racist and ignore the racist attitude of the NCAAP, BET, etc.
You can deny the sad state of the NBA, but you can't ignore it.
Russ Wellen says:
John wrote: "Larry Bird would not be recruited in today's 'street ball' NBA."
Don't dare presume Larry Bird would ever touch anything like that with a ten-foot pole. Just because he had no hops himself scarcely means he'd sign up for No-Hops Hoops.
Brent says:
The only 'slap in the face' here is you media people who give this joke ink and air time. This is obviously a publicity stunt. Possibly even done by an anti-racist group to get attention.
Hananova says:
What's wrong with white people wanting to cheer other white people? I have never heard of a black person NOT cheering for black sports stars.
It's a well-known fact, that blacks have an athletic advantage, ask any anthropologist, so whites should also have a chance to have their own leagues.
Hey Mason, just because a person is Caucasian, doesn't mean he marches around in jack boots, wearing SS insignia and shouting "Heil, Hitler!"
Get it? All white people are not Nazi's.
On the other hand 99% of media reporters seem to be graduates of the Joseph Goebbels school of Journalism.
NBA racist hypocrisy is even greater than NFL racist hypocrisy. Alan Iverson should have been banned for life because of the race riot he started in high school, instead he wasn't even charged.
I wouldn't spend $.10 to watch the NBA, that is, to watch a bunch of racist skinheads run around, elbow and push each other.
Blacks have a 75-1 better chance of making it to the NBA, since they are only 12% of the population, but they are represented as 80% of the NBA
If the NBA is a good discrimination, a discrimination based on athletic ability, then why don't you also endorse discrimination based on mental ability? Oh, no, that is racism, you would scream.
I have lost more than one job to a lesser qualified, indeed, wholly unqualified black. THAT was racism.
On every college campus is a Black Student Union, yet whites are jailed if they attempt to unite. Every profession has a blacks-only organization started by black racists. Congress has a group of black racists - the Congressional Black Caucus. Even Christmas has been mugged by the black racists to make Kwanza.
Lerner, you are a despicable human being.
donna zeff says:
Wow, what amazing comments from people. I feel a need to defend poor Mason Lerner. All those organizations that support MINORITIES in the United States are legitimate ways for those groups to help themselves. they are not racist. Its like helping your own family over your neighbor's kids. Having a "white's only" basketball league seems just a publicity stunt, and perhaps should better be called, "The guys that don't really play basketball that well" league. So maybe it isnt racist, really. Its like women having their own league, since they really dont have much of a chance at playing against guys. But gee-whiz, do they have to make it so evil-sounding, like checking the pedigrees? I think that's what sets it apart and makes it pretty tasteless.