The Shadow League's blogger J.R. Gamble assumes he is the acting "shadow commissioner" of the NBA in advising every single player in the league to take a knee during the playing of the National Anthem this season. Gamble issued an immediate challenge to Commissioner Adam Silver's recent memo to the teams advising them to have their players stand.
Gamble says the NBA's mandate shows that the true message of protest is being disrespected, and he expects players to look to star players for their cue on what to do. The "shadow commissioner" demands players defy Commissioner Silver's directive:
Now that Adam Silver has foolishly attempted to lay down the gauntlet and threaten any NBA player who decides to take a knee during the national anthem, I’m sure most African-American NBA fans are besides themselves, eating popcorn and waiting to see how LeBron James, Steph Curry and the NBA’s biggest names respond to the edict.
The response should be an emphatic expletive in the form of all 449 players on NBA rosters kneeling for the anthem. In fact, they should do it every game until the message that people of color are no longer willing to stand by and watch their people get slaughtered, disrespected, belittled and politically and economically disenfranchised is understood.
Gamble says the NBA is just another corporation fearing a customer backlash and is misconstruing athlete protests as "some sort of disrespect to the flag and military." By trying to control player unrest, it "makes the NBA look like "oppressors," Gamble claims. Many NBA players have been locking arms during the National Anthem, rather than kneeling or sitting.
"In my opinion, locking arms in unison won’t cut it as Silver’s threat cuts to the heart of what these protests are about; social, political, educational and corporate oppression and a lack of concern and sensitivity to the plight of black people in this country," Gamble says. "That kind of bullying and media-spinning may have worked with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf back in 1996, but this is a new day." Abdul-Rauf, a retired NBA player who now plays in the 3-on-3 league, was suspended by the NBA in '96 for not participating in the National Anthem.
Joakim Noah offers a glint of hope to Gamble, as he hinted to the press that he and his New York Knicks' teammates may engage in some sort of protest. Knicks' coach Jeff Hornacek said the team will make its decision together. So it may not take long before Silver is forced to play a strong hand or cave in.
Would-be "shadow commissioner" Gamble favors a direct confrontation as a way of continuing the protest Colin Kaepernick started against all the racial wrongs of the past (and maybe think a little bit about playing hoops, too):
For their sake and the sake of the sacrifices made by Colin Kaepernick, I hope they take knee. More importantly, they need to take a knee out of RESPECT for the sacrifices made by Blacks in slavery, during Jim Crow and during the Civil Rights movement, as well as the many lives unjustifiably lost in the racial struggle deeply embedded in the core of this country.
White America has forgotten these American heroes.
Disgracefully comparing America's war heroes to disobedient people who attacked and or resisted police officers on our city's streets, Gamble said, "The lives of THOSE people lost in the war against black souls are just as important to this country as the lives of military men lost fighting wars in third world and foreign lands. We must value the life of Freddie Gray and Alton Sterling and Sean Bell in the same manner that we value the life of a shot cop or a fallen military hero."
It’s a scary time in our country, Gamble writes, and he calls for tolerance and understanding -- "but not from the players who are putting their livelihoods on the line for a cause they find more important than basketball." But the tolerance he demands is a one-way street:
The tolerance must come from those entities that have long contributed to the chain of oppression and the misguided philosophical approaches and attitudes that continue to devalue Black people of all economic statuses in this country.
There's no debating this.
Every player in the NBA should take a knee for the anthem.
Gamble wants NBA players to create a sense of shock and says he won't mind if it "agitates people to listen to the real message."
While Gamble wants to make the rules, he says the actual commissioner of the NBA, Silver, "has no right to try and make it an issue of control and rules. He has to be taught to understand what these protests really mean as well and they can’t be demeaned with threats of fines, suspension or blackballing. Been there, done that. Now the NBA has to deal with it like everyone else."
Ah, but commissioner wannabe Gamble overlooks the dire consequences "everyone else" is reaping by standing down to anti-American protests. If the NBA were to capitulate to social justice warriors disguised as basketball players, it will greatly damage its brand and assure declines in ticket sales. Shots will be launched at the baskets and at the feet of the league.
