Today at 5:45 PM on CBS the University of North Carolina will play Kentucky on a neutral court in Las Vegas, Nevada. We all know what is going on in North Carolina post election. The Republican super majority in the state legislature is doubling down on their hyperpartisan strategy to dominate the state politically. Given that I spent a large part of my childhood in North Carolina and that my mother, step-father, and step-brother (and his wonderful family) still live there, I am heartbroken watching what is happening.
Spending so much time in North Carolina you quickly learn that one sport dominates popular culture there and that is college basketball. I am a huge North Carolina basketball fan. I went to Dean Smith’s basketball camp (you talk about a liberal lion) and I rarely miss a game on television. However, lately it has been harder to blindly give my support to the program. It is so disheartening to believe that the majority of people in that state are now just fine with public school privatization, LGBT discrimination, and unchecked environmental destruction. Alas, despite voting Obama in 2008, this state has reversed its course in a dramatic way.
So I post this essay in hopes that perhaps some young men with some real power may consider a bold and perhaps dangerous course of action. In 1968 Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously protested their country’s treatment of African-Americans with a black power salute on the medal stand after the 200 meter dash. They were villified for their actions at the time, but now are revered heroes for their principled stand. (I consider them heroes.) Today, Colin Kaepernick protests similarly by kneeling during the National Anthem and he has similarly received criticism and attention. Both of these protests have forced the country to talk about uncomfortable issues of race and institutional brutality. This week the Minnesota football team threatened to boycott the Holiday Bowl over issues of due process. Their actions forced negotiations through the night and brought both issues of sexual assault and due process to the forefront. Athletes have a unique power to force people to confront issues of importance, that may otherwise disappear from the public conciousness.
So imagine today at 5:45 PM (Eastern) if the young men of the North Carolina basketball team made some gesture of protest — perhaps as small as a common message written on their shoes, or as powerful as a walk off the court. Risky? Sure, but only if their fans (or a large portion of their fans) don’t support them. I think the NBA has shown an incredible amount of action in terms of the very issues they would be protesting, so I don’t think the major stars would be risking their future employment opportunities. It would cause a major stir among the sports networks for sure. It would get play on the Sunday political shows. But it would take an extreme amount of courage. Tommie Smith and John Carlos courage.
Of course, I am assuming the young men would be in agreement that the actions of the North Carolina legislature are appaling. Perhaps they do not. Perhaps they, like some members of the University of Texas football team, have opposing views. And, we have seen some pro athletes refuse to meet with Obama as part of a protest. However, I believe the voter suppression, the gerrymandering, and the hostility to minorities and local governments is so egregious in North Carolina that surely some of those young men believe there is some real injustice. And if they do agree with that, they have a unique power to perhaps force some change.