Since Coretta Scott King died this morning, it’s hard for me to concentrate on sports at the moment. I was going to write something about there actually being “sports law”, which would include the standards of review for overturning referee calls, deductions regarding the arbitrariness or due process in league suspensions, and other private law stuff. But all that seems a bit trivial at the moment. I’m feeling a need to relate Ms. King’s death to another, realer game: political competition.
In The Tournament of Races, the team called white people has a significant lead in each major category of human activity: education, entertainment, economics, labor, law, politics, sex, religion, and war. This is what I believe is a benign conception of white supremacy, (as opposed to the conception of hooded warriors who terrorize as the only white supremacists). In some of those areas of activity, entertainment and politics more so than economics and war, white peoples’ lead has diminished. The lead began shrinking when slavery ended, reduced further in the 50s thanks to Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks and Coretta’s husband, Martin Luther King, and others, and reduced further still in the 60s and 70s with the introduction of the Civil Rights Acts, school desegregation and Affirmative Action.
Affirmative Action was the last straw. This was and is seen as a direct threat to white supremacy. White people had to call a timeout. After instituting a new general manager named Reagan, white people began battling back, calling Affirmative Action reverse racism, and pleading with the country to battle the forces of discrimination, not the forces that uphold white supremacy.
Then OJ got off. If a big black buck of dude can kill a white woman and get away with it, then white peoples’ supremacy must have ended, or at least the other teams are close enough so that white people take the car off cruise control and compete with vigor again. In comes Gingrich's Contract with America, the Republican Congress, Karl Rove (especially Karl Rove), and now Bush and the boys.
Now the Supreme Court is really up for grabs. It is already slightly right of center, which probably accurately reflects an aggregated America. Rehnquist was a foe of governmental attempts to level the playing field. O’Connor was not a huge fan, but recognized that when one team wins all the time the game disintegrates, and in the political game disintegration is not pleasant. Samuel Alito, the new nominee, like John Roberts less than a year before him, are of the mind that the playing field is level enough to allow full blown racial competition. Blacks and other minorities vehemently disagree. The playing field is tilted and we’d like to switch at halftime.
Whether there is or is not a level playing field is not really where I’ve been going with this. Tavis Smiley pointed out this morning that the day of Rosa Parks funeral, Bush laid a wreath then nominated Samuel Alito. Then, on the day Coretta Scott King dies, senators will issue statements praising her then turn around and confirm Alito. This despite a Zogby poll claiming that 100% of black people oppose Alito’s nomination.
This certifies in my mind that the white team is back in full effect. And that’s cool. All I ask is that we keep the competition respectful this time, same rules for everybody and no chummying up with the ref. And most importantly, despite all praise of bad sportsmanship on ESPN and everywhere else, just remember, when you’re up by a lot, there’s no need to rub the losing team’s face in it. It’ll just start a fight.
Andre Smith
The University of Illinois has filed a second appeal challenging a decision of the NCAA that would require the school to drop its Chief Illiniwek athletic mascot and logo before it could host any postseason competition. (ESPN) Although the NCAA ruling allows the university to keep its Illini and Fighting Illini nicknames, it ruled that Chief Illiniwek is "hostile and abusive."
