Open Court

I normally don't do much sports on television.  But Michael had the NBA Channel on when some show, "Open Court," came on.  It was a great show, a wonderful panel discussion of 7 former stars from the NBA.  They were discussing race in basketball, growing up and in the NBA, as well as in all of the US in general.

There were, of course, well deserved tips of the hat to the pioneers of the '50s and '60s in the NBA, esp those like the Celtics Bill Russell (black) and Red Auerbach (white coach).

But there was also discussion of how sports can help transcend racism (although I dislike that word).  One of the participants, Charles Barkley, said something like, "If I have the ball and I'm ready to pass to a teammate, I don't stop and think, 'Hey, is this guy black or white?'"  Almost before he could answer his question, Reggie Miller said, "No, you ask, 'Can this guy make the shot?'"  They all laughed and nodded at the truth in that--race wasn't important.  "Can he play?" was important.

They pointed to Red Auerbach's Celtics.  If his whole team, blacks and whites, couldn't stay at a segregated hotel, the whole team moved on and found a hotel where all were welcome.  This was in contrast to the Pittsburgh Pirates when Roberto Clemente first broke in.  During spring training, the team faced segregation and discrimination all over the South.  At restaurants, the whites got off the team bus and had dinner, while Clemente waiting on the bus for his doggie bag.  Whites stayed in hotels while Clemente was put up in some black house in the black section of town. When spring camp broke, the host city threw a BBQ for the players and their families at the local country club--for the white players and their families.  Clemente, being black, wasn't invited.  (That's one of the lessons of history.  Yeah, you knew I find a way to throw in history, didn't you?  We are asked to challenge ourselves--honestly.  What would we have done in that situation, one of our black teammates is refused dinner or a room or a BBQ?  Would we, as the Pirates did, have just gone along with it and let Clemente be left out because of his race?  Would we have refused to eat, to stay, to attend if our black teammate couldn't?)

I was reminded, as they told how race brought whites and blacks and everyone else, players and fans alike, together when playing a hated rival, of the impact of Jackie Robinson.  In a game between the bitter rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers and NY Giants, Robinson led the Dodgers back to a ninth-inning, come-from-behind victory, driving in and scoring the tying and winning runs.  Fans went crazy, yelling and cheering and hugging each other.  One of those fans, a young white Jewish man, went home and was excitedly telling the story of the game, of the yelling and cheering and hugging, when he suddenly went quiet, very quiet.  His family was puzzled, asking what was wrong.  Nothing was wrong, the young man said, pensively.  But he then told his family, "The man I was hugging was a black man," although I doubt he used the term "black."  That's what Robinson did to and for people.  Name another time in the late '40s America when a white Jewish man could be found cheering and yelling and hugging with a black man......  Right, you probably can't.

Barkley is very opinionated and outspoken.  He's very intelligent, although I think sometimes he gets carried away and tries to say too much.  He noted, among other things, that blacks in the US have to take responsibility for themselves.  They can't assume they will be athletes or gangsta rappers or the like.  They can and should aspire to becoming doctors and lawyers and owners of businesses.  They can't blame whites for that.  He said, "White guys aren't coming down to the ghetto and selling drugs.  Whites aren't coming down and shooting up our neighborhoods.  White guys aren't recruiting our young blacks to gangs." etc.  Yet, Chris Webber added something very important.  "We don't have to become doctors and lawyers.  If we don't like wearing ties every day, we can become carpenters and......  We can become great people by loving our families and God and becoming good citizens."

It was a great program.