The NBA lockout over the past few months has had me wondering. Is the NBA a modern day plantation or a fair and balanced medium that helps lots of would be lower and middle class black men become multi-millionaires?
On one hand; I’d like to believe that it has helped 1000’s of black men become wealthy
individuals over the past 50+ years, which it has done, but is it a case of them selling their souls to become rich? Young black men across the nation have been afforded an opportunity to go from a position in the permanent underclass to a position of wealth and prosperity by learning how to shoot a ball through a hoop. It sounds easy when being said, but it’s actually a very impressive feat when you take into account the fact that only 64 job openings become available each year. Then you will see why being a professional NBA player is a coveted position. 64 young mostly Black men vie for these positions every year and some go on to be multi-millionaires and national names. They get a chance to provide for their families, children, and friends for generations sometimes, unless they mess the money up, which a few have done recently. So at a glance, you can’t beat it. You get a chance to become rich, famous and sought after but the price becomes evident when you decide to buck the system.
One the other hand I can’t help but notice that every criteria used to evaluate a
potential NBA player is the exact same as the criteria used to evaluate the
slave when being sold at auction. I can still remember the remarks from the Bulls owner when news reporters spoke to him after the Bulls selected Eddy Curry in the draft when he mentioned the size of Eddy Curry and his mother’s hands. Eddy is 6’10”, he should have big hands, but to make a remark like that about his mother also, shows where his mind was, this guy comes from good stock, is more than likely what was going through his mind. You see, when slaves were auctioned off, they were looked at like beast of burden, which they were in the eyes of the slave master and scrutinized as such. They would have to stand naked and humiliated, while white men evaluated their physiques; their legs, arms, hands and for the men, even their penis size. This was all done so the slave master could evaluate if the slave would be the best possible beast of burden that money could buy. The stronger they were the more rigorous labor they could do, for longer periods of time. And for the men they could also evaluate if he would be a good breeder, for those who don’t know, a breeder is basically a slave of what they call “good stock”; strong, muscular, well endowed, etc. This slave would be the most physically fit of all the specimens they examined. So the stronger, more fit a slave is the more work he can do, and he could produce nice physically fit off springs for the next generation of slaves. Sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it.
As the NBA players have found out recently, they are being treated like nothing more than chattel, being used for their athletic prowess. Go dunk the ball for me boy, make me billions. I’ll make you a millionaire as long as you don’t get out of line. Yeah you used to get 57% of the NBA pot but we don’t want you to have that anymore, let’s make it 50/50, and if you don’t agree, forget it, will just lock you out. And that’s where we stand today, a lock out.
As I’ve read in plenty of articles relating to this story, the players were willing to concede at least 53% to 47% in the players favor, but the greed of the owners and their feeling of superiority complexes said it wasn’t enough, 50/50 or nothing at all. Never mind the fans that pay for the tickets, watch the games and buy the paraphernalia. What about the very people that make the system work, the people that spin billions and billions of their hard earned dollars a year to make you richer and richer, what about them? Do they have a say in this? What if the fans say they are conducting a lock out of their own?
What would happen to your league then? What if the NBA players decide to create their own league, what then? Or do you think that the average NBA player and fan isn’t smart enough to figure out that you’re a bunch of borderline racist, greedy assholes who really don’t give a damn about the players, and surely not the fans. It’s already estimated that over $2 billion will be lost by the league and related entities if the season is cancelled. Keep up the slave master antics and it will be more. Either come to a decision soon or risk losing it all. And I’m not even that big of an NBA fan!