How to Get Racial Inequality Addressed (in my honest white-ass opinion)
This year we saw protests break out across the country in regards to the wrongful deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and unfortunately many more. Peaceful protestors took to the streets during a one in a lifetime pandemic to voice their beliefs that enough is enough.
We had our corporate overlords pull ads from Facebook to protest the spread of hate speech which is so cool and very“woke” of Proctor and Gamble to do that. Can’t wait to buy some Old Spice and tell my cashier, “I’m making a difference!”. We had people posting blackouts on Instagram or disconnecting from Instagram which didn’t combat anything. I still see your stupid avocado toast and drinking problems.
But one form of protest was in my opinion, the most effective. On August 26th, the Milwaukee Bucks were scheduled to play the Orlando Magic. Instead of playing, the Bucks Players did not come out to play in protest of the recent shooting of Jacob Blake. It was something new the media was talking about and watching more than you rewatching The Office for the 12th time this year. It’s okay to admit it now!
Headlines ran wondering when the players would come back and speculation grew if this would put other sports in jeopardy. Other sports, athletes, and public figures joined in support of the NBA players. They even had Barack Obama reach out and provide some advice on how to get their message across. Barack Obama! Did Barack Obama curate your BLM post? Didn’t think so! Eventually, the players returned back to play and to finish out the 2019-2020 season. But I believe there is potential for this being a prime catalyst for change.
Let’s step back and look at the make up of the NFL, NBA, and MLB and their revenue recently. I’ll consider these the top three sports Americans are able to understand and pay attention to. Sorry soccer you only matter when the US in the World Cup.
The NFL is made up of around 70% of black players. The NFL also brought in over 15 billion dollars in 2019. The NBA is made up of around 80-81% of black players. The NBA brought in over 8 billion dollars in the 2018-2019 season. The MLB is made up around 8% of black players and the MLB brought in 10.7 billion dollars in 2019. Do you see where I am going with this? No? Okay let’s keep going.
According to Statista, around 64% of Americans are sports fans. These people help drive the revenue by watching the games, buying the jerseys, going to the games, spending at the games, and much more. Still nothing? Okay.
These players help bring in this money each year by putting their bodies and minds on the line to deliver the highest level of competition in the world for our entertainment. They’re cheered on by their fans but the minute one of them speaks up, they are told to “shut up and dribble” or “STAND FOR THE FLAG”. These players receive insults, racial slurs, and death threats from those very same “supportive” fans. This is the plan to not only be heard but to hurt the pocket books of wealthy owners and corporations. Oh and also their racist fans.
Yes I am aware this can hurt some players who are not financially as well off as other players. This would be a cohort effort that individuals would help each other, realize money is not a necessary right now, and this is a sacrifice that is needed to be made in order for a better tomorrow and for sports to eventually return.
Anyway, the plan (in a most ideal world)
Right now - the NBA has wrapped up and is expected to start sometime in early 2021. I’ll say it’ll start some time in February or beginning of March. Let’s say that. We have the NFL still going strong while COVID runs through the teams. Barring a bigger than expected second wave, I see the NFL going the distance and the Super Bowl being “played” in February. Now you get it huh?
The Super Bowl is slated for February 7th, 2021. This is the first day of the protest. Why? It’s because it’s basically a holiday at this point in America. It was estimated that 17 million people would take off the Monday after Super Bowl 53. Companies paid over 5 million dollars to run 30 second videos. I can go on and on about just how much money is spent and made off of the Super Bowl and the impact it has. Well let’s see the impact WITHOUT the Super Bowl.
Ideally, the pregame festivities would happen, there would be no murmurs of a protest from the Seahawks or Chiefs. That’s right those are my Super Bowl picks. They are both led by two prominent black QBs that are considered the best of the league who have been vocal on racial inequality. Granted they don’t have to be the spokespersons of the game’s protest but they would have the biggest impact. Like I said, the festivities would happen but what would happen is that the teams come out, stand/kneel for the Anthem. After the National Anthem, both teams would head back into one locker room together. From there, they refuse to come out and announce they are in protest of the game until racial inequality is finally addressed in this nation. A statement is made from the locker room from whomever wants to speak.
Imagine those headlines! Companies pissed they spent all that money; the money they are going to lose to lost ad revenue and sales from those ads. Owners shitting themselves that it will spill over to their team and players will begin to support the Chiefs and Seahawks players. Mass Hysteria would hit racist NFL fans calling for the heads of protesting players thus revealing their true colors again (is it that red with the stupid four letters?). Those 17 million people actually going to work on Monday - the horror! All eyes would be glued to when the Super Bowl will be played. Here’s the thing - it won’t. Players refuse until there is a satisfactory plan that is put in place. Remember point 1 about the NBA starting? Well that’s not happening either.
As the NFL was supposed to end on a big bang with the Super Bowl, the NBA was supposed to pick up in February and carry sports fans until the NFL was back on in the fall. Not this time. The NBA players commit early on and announce they will not start the season. Now there’s no basketball and LeBron isn’t going to just “shut up and dribble”. But then there’s the MLB.
As mentioned before, the MLB only has about 8% players that are black. This is where it gets more difficult and we would have to see if Latino players would join in on this solidarity movement. Essentially, we are banking on the pressure of the NFL and NBA not playing to apply onto the MLB players and have them not play or at least delay their season. Maybe this won’t work because the MLB players decline or they do protest alongside but instead we make baseball popular again and not just a thing where you go to the early game for an excuse to start drinking early. It’s a risk still worth taking.
If all is executed effectively, the protest has the ability to hurt the rich’s pockets by the hundreds and millions of dollars and let people know we need to take racial inequality seriously. I understand this can hurt others financially that rely on jobs that are a part of the sports entertainment sector but how else are we supposed to actually the hit the pocket books of the ultra wealthy and get the attention of virtually all Americans? It’s sad that it has to take sports being stopped in order for it to happen but if that’s what it takes, then it must be done.
Thanks for reading this. I know it isn’t as dumb as some of my other articles but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. And if you think it is dumb -great! I’m doing my job.