NBA and WNBA Players Showing Us the Way
Guest Column
By Gerry Chidiac
In times of crisis, true leaders step forward. While effective political leadership has largely been absent, professional athletes, primarily players in the National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association, have demonstrated that celebrity status, when embraced with a sense of responsibility, can be a catalyst for global change.
Quite frankly, the examples of selfless leadership demonstrated by professional basketball players in recent months have almost been too many to mention.
When the remainder of the NBA season was cancelled in March, several players including Kevin Love and rookie Zion Williamson announced that they would help pay the salaries of stadium employees who found themselves out of work.
After the death of George Floyd, many players risked their health and their reputations by participating in protests.
As the NBA and WNBA have resumed play in their COVID-19-free bubbles, the statement “Black Lives Matter” has been front and center. Players also advocated to be allowed to display social justice messages on their uniforms, and the leagues obliged, albeit in a limited format. At a time when many are asking how we can bring about effective change, players remind us that we need racial justice, equality and education reform. We need to say the names of victims of racial violence and we need to stand up for one another.
It is also significant to note that both leagues have strong international components, with players who come from all over the world. They all make it clear to us that racism is a global issue.
Toronto Raptors star Serge Ibaka is from a former French colony, the Republic of Congo. He wears the phrase, “Respectez biso,” which translates to “respect us.” This message reflects the cultural and linguistic richness of his region, combining both French and Lingala to make a powerful statement.
France, like all European colonizers, does not have a stellar record in respecting the rights of Africans. The situation was even worse across the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony, where Ibaka’s mother was born. The exploitation of the African continent by foreign interests continues to this day, as do poverty and violence.
Ibaka clearly understands the global significance of the Black Lives Matter movement. He states:
“What is going on in the United States is what is going on everywhere…. in Congo, in Africa, in all the countries in Europe, it’s happening too, in different ways. The fight we’re fighting here is bigger than the fight people are thinking [about] because if we can win this fight here, we’re going to change a lot of things around the world.”
Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs also understands the responsibility that goes along with his status. He and his family have experienced horrendous racism as Indigenous Australians. Not only has Mills volunteered many hours in his homeland, he has agreed to donate his earnings from the NBA restart, a sum of over one million US dollars, to social justice causes in Australia.
WNBA players are also speaking out courageously and have even shown a willingness to take on rich and powerful people who oppose the Black Lives Matter movement. League commissioner Cathy Engelbert expressed pride in the players “who continue to lead with their inspiring voices and effective actions in the league’s dedicated fight against systemic racism and violence.”
Many consider basketball, when it is played well, as the ultimate team game. NBA and WNBA teams demonstrate the amazing synergy that happens when talented people from all over the world come together in an environment of mutual respect.
It is time to not only recognize the character of these great athletes, it is time for us to follow their leadership.
Gerry Chidiac is a Canadian educator and a columnist for Troy Media.
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #21 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Chatting About a Broken Game With Baseball Writer Pedro Moura – Moura is a national baseball writer for Fox Sports. He previously covered the Los Angeles Dodgers for The Athletic. His new book is titled “How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink.” We discuss how and why the game of baseball is broken, what factors caused it, and offer a few thoughts on how to “fix” a great game.
Listen on Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Anchor and others.
Follow on Facebook: @SportsForumPodcast
More Episodes on Apple Podcasts; Spotify; Google Podcasts; PocketCasts; & Anchor
Episode #20 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Coaching Youth and High School Sports Based On What’s Best for the Athlete’s Holistic Development – We chat with long-time youth, high school and college basketball coach Jim Huber.
Episode #19 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Capturing the Spirit of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Anika Orrock – We discuss the hoops AAGPFL women had to jump through to play the game they loved as well as the long-term impact and legacy they have in advancing sports opportunities for girls and women.
Episode #18 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking about the 50th Anniversary of Title IX and the Lia Thomas Controversy with Nancy Hogshead-Makar – Hogshead-Makar is a triple gold medalist in swimming, a civil rights attorney and CEO of Champion Women.
Episode #17 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking Sports With Legendary New York Times Sports Columnist Robert Lipsyte – We chat about Lipsyte’s amazing career and some of the athletes he covered.
Episode #16 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Andrew Maraniss: Outstanding Author of Books That Focus On the Intersection of Sports, History and Social Justice.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Books