I Am My Race?

The NBA is back! My favorite league, with my all-time favorite athlete (Kobe Bryant), is here for another installment of faaaaaan-tastic action—or at least, that’s what their slogan used to say.

Overwhelmingly negative tales of the fall of the NBA due to its awful relationship with its fans have been the real story coming into this season. From the Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon saying, “unarguably, the NBA is in need of a rebound,” to Chuck Klosterman for ESPN the Magazine declaring, “the NBA is always in trouble,” the pessimism is widespread. Many problems have plagued the league, but the most commonly cited is a so-called disconnect between players and fans, which has led to dislike. As Klosterman puts it, most basketball players are “likely the tallest, richest, blackest person in almost any room in America, a nexus of physical, financial, and racial minorities. You have almost nothing in common with [them].”

Yahoo! Sports columnist and former player Kenny Smith reached the point where he asked himself, “Is the league a bunch of rags-to-riches, spoiled, overpaid, lazy, selfish, pampered, rap-listening, womanizing, good-for-nothings?” The image of the NBA player has gotten so bad that teams like the Indiana Pacers have removed their players from commercials, instead emphasizing the coaches and management—who are associated with “hustle, teamwork and fundamentally sound basketball”—over the players, who are associated with “hip-hop culture.” With all this, how does one counter the negative image of young black men? Perceptions take a notoriously long time to change, and the fight is always three steps forward, and four back.

The Lowell “riot” of a couple weeks ago speaks to the same issue. It just had to be a party held by a black student, the fights had to be so bad that nearly all the cops in Cambridge came, and The Crimson’s news article just had to cite some incredibly old rap song to top it all off. It was all seen as yet another reason why African Americans must do everything in their power to constantly provide positive images of the black man. However, the assumption that black men will always be seen as a monolith is one I’m quite uncomfortable with.

My parents aren’t. For years, they’ve told me that I should make it my personal mission to improve the image of black men in this country. The NBA openly embraces this assumption. Realizing that large, black men covered in tattoos and wearing “hip-hop” attire only serve to remind their fan-base of the negative things associated with that group (and thus the NBA), the organization implemented a business-attire dress code for all public appearances.

On our own campus, the Black Men’s Forum (BMF) is similarly aware of image as one of the paramount obstacles for black men in America. Echoing the NBA dress code, the BMF tries to promote a positive image through their bi-weekly “BMF Tie Day,” which Brotherhood Chair Sangu Delle ’10 described not only as “a symbolic gesture of unity and brotherhood,” but something that works to “[dispel] the stereotype that black men are not professional.”

A noble ideal, indeed. But it begs the question: What’s really the issue here? Are people not provided enough positive images of black men? Or are they using their socially constructed heuristics and stereotypes to seek out information that confirms what they already believe? Given the damage inflicted by the Lowell incident, in spite of all of the walking positive images of black men to be found right on this campus, I’d have to agree with the latter.

Those who see minorities through a stereotype, whether it’s equating Islam with fascism or labeling all Hispanics as illegal immigrants, are the people that really want to. They refuse to have the depth of thought to view people different from them as individuals and move beyond their preconceived beliefs. For the most part, they are not seeking to have their minds changed.

That is not to say minority groups should stop making efforts to improve their images, but the primary motivation should be for themselves, not for everyone else. It’s important to care deeply about the image of your race, but when you have to feel personally embarrassed for something that didn’t involve you, as many black students seemed to in response to the Lowell incident, you are tacitly accepting and condoning generalizations. Allowing bigots to affect your well-being only gives them more satisfaction. The best thing to do is to reject the labels, reject the categorizations, and ignore the supposed “ramifications” of an event like the Lowell “riot.”

So no, an event like the Lowell incident shouldn’t prompt a “real, frank discussion” about race, as Crimson editorial editor Weslie M. W. Turner ’10 called for in her comment, “Dancing Around Lowell Courtyard.” The people who believe that the conversation should be about race actually need a real, frank discussion with themselves.



Aparicio J. Davis ’10 is an economics concentrator in Leverett House. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.