Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

The NBA’s Black Power
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
02 Sep 2020
🖨️ Print Article
The NBA’s Black Power
The NBA’s Black Power / Photo: Milwaukee Bucks star and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokoumpos joined protests in Milwaukee, June 6, 2020.

Black NBA players, writes Ann Garrison, are just beginning to understand the power of the attention and admiration they command.

“All the basketball arenas owned by NBA teams will be turned into polling stations prior and up through the November 3 election.”

On August 26, the third day of the Republican Convention and two days after a Kenosha, Wisconsin cop fired seven bullets into the back of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play. Then the rest of the NBA players, at least 75% of whom are Black, chose to go on strike as well and the National Basketball Association halted the NBA playoffs. As Counterpunch’s Nat St. Clair noted on Twitter, they kicked the Republicans out of center court and into the parking lot.

Barack Obama and Michael Jordan then met with LeBron James and other high profile players and convinced them to get back to work after a few victories with management. Most notably, all the basketball arenas owned by NBA teams will be turned into polling stations prior and up through the November 3 election. Cynics say that Obama co-opted the NBA’s activism into a Democratic Party get-out-the-vote campaign, but LeBron James and other players had already formed a non-profit that is currently focused on defending African American voting rights. In the swing state of Florida, they had already offered $100,000 to pay the fines of convicted felons who’ve done their time but would otherwise be unable to vote.

“Cynics say that Obama co-opted the NBA’s activism.”

Who knows what the players might do next, as they realize the power of the attention and admiration they command? They may even make as much effort to end African American, LatinX, and student voter suppression that took place in this year's Democratic primaries, helping to make Joe Biden the Democrats' weak, so-called choice. 

(Yes, African American voters turned out heavily for Biden in South Carolina, and in Michigan, most notably in Detroit, and maybe that was enough to power Biden’s improbable Lazarus-like resurrection at the polls, but I doubt it and I’m not the only one. Either way let’s hope the players will battle voter suppression, which is above all African American voter suppression, in the primaries as well as the general election from hereon.)

They might also add “Black Homes Matter” to “Black Lives Matter,” as millions of disproportionately Black renters and homeowners face eviction not through any fault of their own but because oligarchy is using the coronavirus pandemic to further consolidate power and wealth, including real estate equity.

Maybe they’ll even take on Nike and the other sports apparel manufacturers for their notorious exploitation of sweatshop labor in Indonesia, Asia, Central America, or wherever the rate of exploitation is highest at any given time. Who else is Nike going to ask to endorse their snazzy sneakers?

Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize  for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann(at)anngarrison.com 

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

Police brutality

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Black Alliance For Peace
From George Floyd Back to the Structural Violence of Capitalism
28 May 2025
With the ritualistic murder of George Floyd by the occupation forces referred to as the police that roam the streets and barrios of the Black a
Aisha
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Aisha Beliso-De Jesús’ Book, “Excited Delirium”
14 August 2024
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Eric Umansky
How the N.Y.P.D. Quietly Shuts Down Discipline Cases Against Officers
03 July 2024
Police Commissioner Edward Caban has often relied on an obscure authority to intervene when officers are accused of serious wrongdoing, often h
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Boss Tweet’s Trial V. Trial of a Freedom Fighter
22 May 2024
Writhing—tossing, turning—
Students for Justice in Palestine
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Repression of Campus Palestine Solidarity Reveals the Nature of the State
01 May 2024
Campus protests in solidarity with Palestine have been met with brute police force and condemnation of
Pan-African Community Action
Pan-African Community Action
DC’s 2024 Crime Bill Is More War on the Black Working Class
14 February 2024
The DC Crime Bill is a continuation of the assault on the Black working class, created to expand control over Black communities via surveillanc
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
06 September 2023
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan (For Franklin, the Families, and Antioch’s Fightback)
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
Alice Speri 
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
08 February 2023
The chief of the Memphis, Tennessee police department took part in trainings in Israel.
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
27 July 2022
                                       
Protesting for Jayland Walker
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Protesting for Jayland Walker
06 July 2022
The number of bullets used to kill Jayland Walker have sparked an outcry, but police kill one Black person every day in this country.

More Stories


  • Eddie Conway Tribute
    Mali Collins
    Eddie Conway Tribute
    15 Mar 2023
    The late Eddie Conway was a young member of the Black Panther Party who was framed for the killing of a police officer and spent more than 40 years in jail. His experience as a political…
  • Monroe Doctrine Plays Out in Perú
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Monroe Doctrine Plays Out in Perú
    15 Mar 2023
    The people of Peru continue to protest the coup which ousted President Pedro Castillo Terrones. The 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine is a discredited relic, but Washington still considers the…
  • SNAP Benefits for African Mothers Are Gone, While Ukraine Eats Good
    Erica Caines
    SNAP Benefits for African Mothers Are Gone, While Ukraine Eats Good
    15 Mar 2023
    The perfect storm of austerity policies and US imperialism sends billions of dollars to Ukraine but ends pandemic era emergency Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
  • The International Politics of Observing Elections
    Owei Lakemfa
    The International Politics of Observing Elections
    15 Mar 2023
    The practice of accepting observers to oversee elections is quite problematic. This practice leads to interference from entities with ulterior motives and legacies of colonial control.
  • Black Agenda Radio March 10, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 10, 2023
    10 Mar 2023
    This week we hear about the absence of home rule in Washington DC and the congressional and white house decision to overturn its city council’s criminal statutes, and the Chicago community’s…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us