The
NBA Dress Code: It's Not The Dress, It's The Stereotypes
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, BlackNews.com Columnist
The NBA players that screamed racism when the NBA demanded
that they dump their bling-bling chains, pendants, medallions,
baggy pants, hang dog sweats and tee shirts when involved
in team or league business, miss the point. The ban on their
ghetto chic dress is not a denial of their right to personal
expression, civil rights, a violation of their hip-hop lifestyle,
or a racist ploy by the NBA to spruce up its image among white
suburban fans, and its corporate backers.
Their dress, hip style, brash bravado, and the gangster
rap that blare out of the NBA locker rooms and even through
the PA systems at games reinforces the old stereotypes that
young black males are sullen, defiant, and eternally in rebellion
against the established order, and that includes the NBA.
That has convinced even more Americans that the thug lifestyle
is the black lifestyle.
The self-indulgent, pampered, overpaid, NBA guys that make
10 to 15 million dollars a year don't see it that way, and
there's a reason. From the moment they put on uniforms, these
super talented athletes become the instant repository of the
dreams, delusions and fantasies of a public desperately in
need of vicarious escape. They are swooned, and fawned over
by a star-struck media.
Though
some have never set foot on a college campus, and the
others that have never had a thought about getting a
college degree, yet they are still paid a king's ransom
for playing a kid's game, while demanding the right
to dress like kids. It's their swagger, defiance, and
dress that stirs the imagination of many young black
males. They identify with them because they believe
that they are one of them.
That dress style, however, instantly profiles them.
They are rammed unceremoniously against walls, and on
street corner curbs, and fume while police run their
whole life history through computers. They are subject
to the gawking and prying eyes and stares of store clerks
and shadowed by store detectives while they shop. Job
interviewers summarily reject them. They are suspended
or expelled from high schools in disproportionate numbers.
Dress profiling is not reserved solely for the young
blacks in tough inner city neighborhoods. Any young
black male whether he's a Rhodes scholar, National Science
Medal winner or junior achievement awardee, could find
himself tagged as a gangster simply because of their
dress.
The players protest that how they dress is their business
and they are not role models for anyone. NBA legend
Charles Barkley some years back loudly railed against
having the role model burden shoved onto his shoulders.
But the players are, and even Barkley belatedly admitted
as much in a recent interview. Barkley also acknowledged
that many black youth who don't make the millions that
NBA superstars are paid still must bear the consequences
of the negative racial typecasting.
The players that complained they're targets of NBA officials
trying to spiff them up to please the league's corporate
boosters don't have a free pass from the negative typecasting
that they've generously contributed to either. When
the final buzzer sounds, and they step out into the
streets, they can also get the dress profiling treatment.
There are more than a few cases where pro athletes have
been spread eagled by police beside their expensive
Mercedes, BMW, SUV, or Hummer. If the cop stops an NBA
player and is not a basketball buff all their protests
about their name, money and fame won't mean much. They're
still just another black suspect.
Indiana Pacers guard Stephen Jackson who publicly yelped
that the dress code is racist found that out the hard
way. When he sprinted into the stands in Detroit last
November to slug it out with fans along with teammate
Ron Artest, he wasn't simply reviled for his rash and
mindless act. He, and sometime rapper Artest, brought
the wrath of the public down on the league.
The "thug athlete" label which legions of NBA watchers
had murmured privately for years, now thundered across
the public's lips. Legions of sportscasters lambasted
the players as vicious, violent, and out of control
hooligans. They dredged up stats that played hard on
the arrest records of some of the players, and always
they pointed to their dress to prove that the NBA was
a din of gangsters.
It was a bum rap, of course, the majority of NBA players
are not violent, criminals, and many quietly and selflessly
donate to charities, participate in education programs,
perform community service and endow programs at their
alma maters. The Washington Wizards' Etan Thomas participated
in the September anti-war march in Washington D.C. and
has spoken out against the Iraq war, and Bush's policies.
Yet, the exemplary, and thoughtful behavior and good
deeds of these players can't erase the perception that
NBA players are overpaid, spoiled malcontents.
Clothes may not make the man, but they sure make the
stereotypes. NBA officials recognized that even if some
players don't.
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson is a columnist for BlackNews.com,
an author and political analyst.
For
media interviews, contact:
Mr. Hutchinson at 323-296-6331 or hutchinsonreport@aol.com
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