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NBA’s Pivot to Social Activism Sets a Bold New Standard, but Questions Remain
- Updated: July 22, 2016
The NBA’s decision to remove the 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte, North Carolina, is unprecedented.
NBA players have often been agitators and firebrands, but the league itself—the commissioner, the owners—rarely insert themselves into the thick of civil rights and social issues. The sweeping North Carolina House Bill 2, a discriminatory law aimed at limiting the civil rights of transgender people, proved too repugnant to the league’s moral fabric.
Commissioner Adam Silver seems intent on presiding over a league that doesn’t shy away from pressing social issues. This particular stance was preceded by the NBA’s vocal outcry over gun violence and the public removal of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling after one of his racist diatribes went public.
These actions mark a pronounced departure from the league’s approach to social issues across its history.
The NBA has typically lagged behind its players when it comes to social causes. In the 1950s, Bob Cousy formed the first pro sports union when he founded the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). Subsequent NBPA leaders Tommy Heinsohn and Oscar Robertson, among many others, challenged the league to provide pension plans, expand health coverage and respect the right to free agency. These were principles widely abided elsewhere in the American labor market.
But the NBA didn’t exactly rush to provide labor rights. Players were forced to employ the specter of strikes and legal action for fair treatment. They had to fight.
Off the court, Robertson, Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Don Barksdale and others gave voice and clout to the African-American civil rights movement. White NBA players like Cousy, Vern Mikkelsen and others often supported their black teammates by refusing to eat at or stay at segregated facilities.
For too long, the NBA office and its teams’ owners scheduled games in segregated cities, forcing its players to confront and protest the humiliation. Jim Crow laws and the legacy of slavery manifested themselves in brazenly simple ways: the inability for a black player to use a bathroom or eat at a lunch counter. The opportunity for protest presented itself regularly.
Players understood the larger ramifications of their …
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