WTHH: Jill Biden, Can We Let Black Women Win?

Since the presidency of George W. Bush, it’s been a tradition to invite the winners of the NCAA and NCAAW champions to the White House. For the first time in the history of the NCAA national championship game, First Lady Jill Biden invited both the winning and losing teams. Following a championship game that resulted in the mostly black LSU team, especially star player Angel Reese, receiving racialized backlash for trash talking, while Iowa star player Caitlin Clark, who is white, was praised for the same thing, it is interesting that Dr. Biden chose this year to invite both teams. Despite possible good intentions and the message of unity Dr. Biden claimed to propel, the gesture is disrespectful to both teams and women’s basketball in general.

This year’s NCAAW tournament was historic in terms of both record-breaking viewership and performances from players. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark’s playing led her to sweep every national Player of the Year award. Clark had a historic season and tournament, leading the nation in assists and triple doubles and averaging the second most points in the country. It seemed no one could compete with her stardom.

Yet, in the end, Iowa lost.

While the game itself was entertaining and worthy of discussion, most of the media attention was on LSU sophomore Angel Reese who taunted Caitlin Clark with a “You can’t see me” gesture at the end of the game, a callback to Clark doing the same taunt earlier in the tournament. While Clark herself said she didn’t have a problem with Reese’s trash talk, many internet warriors took it upon themselves to defend Clark by disparaging Reese, going as far as calling her and her teammates thugs, reflecting the larger issue of misogynoir in society that results in the victimization of white women and villainization of black women. The fact that a twenty year old black woman waving her hand in front of her face angered so many proves that.

Further, this outsized insertion by pundits of every kind into the conversation of women’s sports reeked of misogyny by assuming the women athletes from Iowa and LSU were not strong enough to handle the inherent trash talking in high level sports that men athletes consistently dish out.

Despite LSU’s win, Biden’s decision to invite both teams perpetuates a pattern of diminishing the accomplishments of women in sports, especially Black women. Angel Reese averaged 23 points and 15.4 rebounds a game this season. Flau’jae Johnson won SEC Freshman of the Year. Alexis Morris was one of the best players in the entire tournament. Jasmine Carson came off the bench and contributed to over a third of LSU’s 59 points scored in the first half. These players all had great individual performances, but more importantly, performed beautifully as a team, scoring 102 points in the championship game — the highest score ever in the history of the NCAAW tournament championship games. This should be the takeaway from the championship game. Instead, Reese’s treatment and, now, Biden’s decision threaten to eclipse it.

The matchup was entertaining and competitive and both teams deserve recognition for their hard work and skill, but the implications of Biden’s choice to invite both teams has weightier implications than the argument of inclusion. Like the fans who bullied Reese, because they thought Clark couldn’t handle trash talk, Biden’s decision to include everyone undermines the competitive nature of sports.

Reese initially declined the invitation, but, as of Thursday, LSU announced that the whole team would be in attendance. Of this announcement, Reese said, “I'm a team player. I'm going to do what's best for the team. I'm the captain."

Based on performance alone, LSU women’s basketball deserves recognition, but when taking into account the harassment they faced, it is even more important to stand behind them. In particular, the juxtaposition of hailing Caitlin Clark as classy and Angel Reese as classless, when both women took part in trash talking, is particularly damaging — highlighting the intersection of racism and misogyny in women’s sports. Ten seconds of taunting was blown out of proportion, when men are heralded for doing worse. Black women should be allowed to be just as competitive — without the double standard.

Extending the invitation to LSU alone could have been an opportunity for Jill Biden to celebrate the team, who dedicated countless hours to becoming champions and faced a disgusting amount of hate for succeeding. Jill Biden inviting both teams instead is a slap in the face to LSU and the Black women who make it what it is.