Why ‘Social Justice’ Jerseys Are a Bad Idea for the NBA

We need politics in fewer of our cultural institutions, not more.

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According to numerous reports the NBA is poised to let players wear jerseys with “social justice messages” on them, perhaps in lieu of their last names. 

I think this is a bad idea. Many people disagree. 

Sports Illustrated loves the idea. In an article titled, “The NBA Would Make A Strong Statement With Profound Jersey Decision,” SI’s Gabe Zaldivar writes:

The decision for the NBA makes sense as, first, it’s the right thing to do. Two, public opinion has shifted immensely in favor of the BLM movement.

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  1. JAMES TYRONE

    What other kind of lickspittles are there?

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    BW

    Yes! Yes! Yes! Kids shows, Ya novels, sports. I’m fed up with purity tests in every medium. Let me enjoy life without you throwing politics into everything. People need a release. I come to The Dispatch for this stuff. I don’t need a creep like Marv Albert talking about BLM on TNT thank you very much.

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    BrandonAlleman

    I think you should leave it to NBA fans and players to decide, Jonah. The league is already largely player and personality driven. If you don't like it then continue to not watch it.

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  4. AmRevHistorian

    My prediction is that the politicization of sports is a sign of further cultural division in the country and perhaps an indication that sports are declining in their relevance to the market. On the first point, I wonder if sports is going the way of music. Do we even have Top 40 anymore? It's country, rap, techno, etc. And this isn't necessarily bad or new. More music charts means more opportunities for our wonderfully diverse society to shine. But there's also something lost in the fact that there's not a neutral zone where we can be Americans together. So what if basketball becomes the sport of black liberals and baseball becomes the sport of white conservatives? Aren't we heading there already? But I also look at people my age--male and female, gay and straight, black and white and Latino--and I'm the only one I know who still watches professional sports. We have the internet and we live in smaller numbers; we don't have to watch sports because nothing else is on.

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  5. Bob Lebenson

    I’m going off on a tangent here, but Jonah has given me “permission” to do so, by making sports a topic for discussion. Therefore, I’d like to point out a significant way in which sports has contributed toward a relatively major cultural (and one might say, political) change within the past few days.

    Kylin Hill is a star running back at Mississippi State University, perhaps the best at his position in the SEC. On June 22, Mr. Hill announced via Twitter that he would no longer play for MSU so long as the state flag of Mississippi contained the Confederate battle emblem.

    Mr. Hill’s announcement had an immediate statewide impact, apparently greater than any other argument on the topic has had in over 130 years. As I suspect many or most of you know, the state legislature voted yesterday to remove the emblem. Only eight days had passed since his tweet, which observers agree was the event that set the action about the flag in motion.

    I don’t have a good closing to this post, except perhaps to point out that sports are closely connected to both culture and politics, and are not easily removed.

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      Jeff Walden

      I haven't been paying any attention to the procedural developments here. Can it really be said that because the flag got changed *after* his protest, it was changed *because* of his protest? If it can't, well, post hoc ergo propter hoc *is* actually a fallacy.

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      1. Bob Lebenson

        Apparently, you also didn't pay attention to what I wrote. I didn't use the word "because". I used phrases "contributed toward" and "set in motion".

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          Jeff Walden

          I read what you wrote. I simply don't think "contributed toward", or even "set in motion", is the right standard to judge the propriety/desirability of bringing political stances into the arena of sports.

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    Gz Expat

    First player that puts Free Tibet on the back of their jersey...lets see if the NBA allows that social justice message.

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    rlritt

    I understand how feel because you see shirts with messages as political. It doesn't have anything to do with politics, ethniity or civil rights or sexual equality. All of these principles are subsumed under one strong, universal principle: Marketing.

    There is nothing so sacred so personal so precious that it can't be used to market products. Televised basketball's sole purpose is to sell shirts, shoes, beer, cars, whatever. If shirts with a message can be produced for 10 cents a piece a sold for $30, well, that's just good business. Don't for second be concerned that the NBA has suddenly acquired a social conscience.

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  8. Token Liberal

    I miss apolitical sports too. But without getting too far down the rabbit hole, was it ever apolitical? Or did we just not see it? Negro leagues? Secret military funding of patriotic displays at NFL games? Professional athletes, often white and conservative, trading on their athletic reputations to run for elective office?

    Sure, it will be difficult for the NBA to regulate this, but they are, in a sense, always regulating. As the president tweets about White Power, silence is also regulation. We cannot just not see the politics right now.

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    CynthiaW

    I agree with the man in the picture. "Enough" sportball, forever.

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    Phil H

    I doubt if the NBA would ever allow a player to wear a jersey that said, "Abortion stops a beating heart."

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