A new professional basketball league called the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA) sent out a press release on Sunday saying that it intends to start its inaugural season in June, with teams in 12 U.S. cities. However, the AABA is different from other sports leagues because only players who are "natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league." AABA commissioner Don "Moose" Lewis insists that he's not racist, but he just wants to get away from the "street-ball" played by "people of color" and back to "fundamental basketball." Lewis cited the recent incidents of bad behavior by NBA players, implying that such actions would never happen with white players..."There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "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."
Yes, here in the 21st century in the good ol' US of A, it would seem that we still haven't managed to defeat racism. As if the past year of the Obama Administration hasn't provided ample evidence, now we have this, a basketball league mired in the racism and stereotypes of the 1940s. That this absurd idea will be amply dealt the ridicule it deserves seems self-evident. What disturbs me is not that there are still people out there who not only think like this, but who have no problem putting such bile out into the public domain.
Regardless of how one might try to spin this sort of thing, the only word I can find to describe it is reprehensible. Silly me; here I'd been thinking that we've made some progress when it comes to how we deal with race. In reality, what actually appears to have happened is that overt racism was merely kept under wraps for years. Now that an atmosphere exists that's more accepting of overt, knuckle-dragging racism, ideas like a Whites-only basketball league.
So how long before lynchings, regular cross burnings, and KKK meetings in the village square begin to reappear? This may seem tongue-in-cheek, but it's really not. Racism and hatred often travel hand in glove with frustration and anger. You don't have to look too far back in our history to see what can happen these forces meet.
Wait long enough, and eventually everything comes back into fashion. Apparently, racism is no different. After all, it's not easy being a member of an oppressed majority.
