An NBA Controversy Over Racism: Part 2

Background for the Teacher:

This is part 2 of a lesson that has students consider a confrontation between Russell Westbrook (a Black NBA player) and a white fan, its aftermath, and the public discussion that ensued about racism in the NBA and society at large. This lesson, part two of the series, has students read and discuss an essay stemming from the controversy, by white NBA player Kyle Korver, which focuses on white privilege.

The NBA controversy began in March 2019, after a video went viral of Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma Thunder, who is Black, confronting a white Utah Jazz fan at a game in Salt Lake City.  The cause of the confrontation was soon revealed: The white fan had made a racist and degrading comment to Westbrook.

The Utah Jazz quickly moved to permanently ban the white fan from all future events at their arena for his “excessive and derogatory abuse.” Westbrook was fined $25,000 by the NBA for directing profane and threatening language at the fan and his wife. Black players, among others, spoke out to defend Westbrook for standing up to racist abuse.

The incident led to widespread discussion in the media and among players, fans, and the public, about the racist and insulting comments Black players regularly receive from white fans, and what to do it about it – as well as larger issues of racism. It also led Kyle Korver, a white NBA player with the Utah Jazz, to publish, a month later, a thoughtful essay entitled “Privileged,” which went viral. In his essay, Korver reflects on the level of racism in the NBA and in our society at large; white privilege, including his own; and the responsibility that he and other white people have to counter racism.  

This lesson has two parts:

• Part 1: A Courtside Confrontation and Its Aftermath

Students consider tweets about Westbrook’s confrontation with the white fan (which include some profanity). They discuss the statement from Westbrook following the incident about what prompted the confrontation and how he views it.  They consider the racial context of the incident. Then they read and discuss a timeline of events that occurred after the confrontation.

• Part 2:  An Essay about the NBA and White Privilege

Students read and discuss two excerpts from Kyle Korver’s essay “Privileged,”and consider a series of quotes from the essay.

Note: Before beginning the discussion, consider reviewing these guidelines on discussing controversial issues in the classroom. 

An NBA Controversy Over Racism

Part 2:  An Essay about White Privilege

Gathering

Invite students to look at the following tweets and ask them if they know what they are in reference to.  Then ask the questions below:

• Who is Kyle Korver?
• What is “the elephant in the room” that he refers to in his tweet?
• What do LeBron James and others want us to listen to?

Elicit and explain that Kyle Korver is an NBA player with the Utah Jazz. On April 8, 2019, Korver published a personal and revealing essay entitled “Privileged” in The Players Tribune, in which he discusses his white privilege. 

The essay appeared almost a month after a courtside incident in Salt Lake City, Utah, received national attention. Visiting player Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma Thunder, who is Black, got into a verbal altercation with a white Utah fan who had been taunting him with racially charged language from the stands. 

In the essay, Korver describes this and an earlier racist incident, involving Black players and teammates, that have made him reflect on racism and the privilege he enjoys as a white man, in the U.S in 2019. He writes that he’s come to the realization that "It's about understanding on a fundamental level that black people and white people, they still have it different in America. And that those differences come from an ugly history..... not some random divide."   

Privileged, by Kyle Korver

Reading 1

Invite students to read the first segment of Kyle Korver’s essay Privileged, below, and in this handout. Then ask them some or all of the following questions:

• Why did Kyle Korver cringe when writing about his response to the news that police had arrested his friend and teammate Thabo Sefolosha, throwing him in jail for the night and leaving him with a season-ending injury?
   
• What was his discomfort about?
   
• Why do you think he felt he let his friend down?
   
• Why do you think he felt he let himself down?

When the police break your teammate’s leg, you’d think it would wake you up a little.

When they arrest him on a New York street, throw him in jail for the night, and leave him with a season-ending injury, you’d think it would sink in. You’d think you’d know there was more to the story.

You’d think.

But nope.

I still remember my reaction when I first heard what happened to Thabo. It was 2015, late in the season. Thabo and I were teammates on the Hawks, and we’d flown into New York late after a game in Atlanta. When I woke up the next morning, our team group text was going nuts. Details were still hazy, but guys were saying, Thabo hurt his leg? During an arrest? Wait — he spent the night in jail?! Everyone was pretty upset and confused.

Well, almost everyone. My response was….. different. I’m embarrassed to admit it.

Which is why I want to share it today.

Before I tell the rest of this story, let me just say real quick — Thabo wasn’t some random teammate of mine, or some guy in the league who I knew a little bit. We’d become legitimate friends that year in our downtime. He was my go-to teammate to talk with about stuff beyond the basketball world. Politics, religion, culture, you name it — Thabo brought a perspective that wasn’t typical of an NBA player. And it’s easy to see why: Before we were teammates in Atlanta, the guy had played professional ball in France, Turkey and Italy. He spoke three languages! Thabo’s mother was from Switzerland, and his father was from South Africa. They lived together in South Africa before Thabo was born, then left because of apartheid.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that Thabo was one of the most interesting people I’d ever been around. We respected each other. We were cool, you know? We had each other’s backs.

Anyway — on the morning I found out that Thabo had been arrested, want to know what my first thought was? About my friend and teammate? My first thought was: What was Thabo doing out at a club on a back-to-back??

Yeah. Not, How’s he doing? Not, What happened during the arrest?? Not, Something seems off with this story. Nothing like that. Before I knew the full story, and before I’d even had the chance to talk to Thabo….. I sort of blamed Thabo.

I thought, Well, if I’d been in Thabo’s shoes, out at a club late at night, the police wouldn’t have arrested me. Not unless I was doing something wrong.

Cringe.

It’s not like it was a conscious thought. It was pure reflex — the first thing to pop into my head.

And I was worried about him, no doubt.

But still. Cringe.

A few months later, a jury found Thabo not guilty on all charges. He settled with the city over the NYPD’s use of force against him. And then the story just sort of….. disappeared. It fell away from the news. Thabo had surgery and went through rehab. Pretty soon, another NBA season began — and we were back on the court again.

Life went on.

But I still couldn’t shake my discomfort.

I mean, I hadn’t been involved in the incident. I hadn’t even been there. So why did I feel like I’d let my friend down?

Why did I feel like I’d let myself down?

Reading 2

Invite students to read a second segment of Kyle Korver’s essay Privileged.  Then ask students some or all of the following questions:

• Why might Korver feel upset and embarrassed when the full story about the fan using racially charged language with Russ Westbrook came out later that night?
   
• Why might others on the team feel disappointment mixed with exhaustion? Why were some guys just sick and tired of it all? Why did they feel different from Korver?
   
• Why does Korver say that the incident is about what it means to exist as a person of color in a mostly white space?

A few weeks ago, something happened at a Jazz home game that brought back many of those old questions.

Maybe you saw it: We were playing against the Thunder, and Russell Westbrook and a fan in the crowd exchanged words during the game. I didn’t actually see or hear what happened, and if you were following on TV or on Twitter, maybe you had a similar initial viewing of it. Then, after the game, one of our reporters asked me for my response to what had gone down between Russ and the fan. I told him I hadn’t seen it — and added something like, But you know Russ. He gets into it with the crowd a lot.

Of course, the full story came out later that night. What actually happened was that a fan had said some really ugly things at close range to Russ. Russ had then responded. After the game, he’d said he felt the comments were racially charged.

The incident struck a nerve with our team.

In a closed-door meeting with the president of the Jazz the next day, my teammates shared stories of similar experiences they’d had — of feeling degraded in ways that went beyond acceptable heckling. One teammate talked about how his mom had called him right after the game, concerned for his safety in SLC. One teammate said the night felt like being “in a zoo.” One of the guys in the meeting was Thabo — he’s my teammate in Utah now. I looked over at him, and remembered his night in NYC.

Everyone was upset. I was upset — and embarrassed, too. But there was another emotion in the room that day, one that was harder to put a finger on. It was almost like….. disappointment, mixed with exhaustion. Guys were just sick and tired of it all.

This wasn’t the first time they’d taken part in conversations about race in their NBA careers, and it wasn’t the first time they’d had to address the hateful actions of others. And one big thing that got brought up a lot in the meeting was how incidents like this — they weren’t only about the people directly involved. This wasn’t only about Russ and some heckler. It was about more than that.

It was about what it means just to exist right now — as a person of color in a mostly white space.

It was about racism in America.

Before the meeting ended, I joined the team’s demand for a swift response and a promise from the Jazz organization that it would address the concerns we had. I think my teammates and I all felt it was a step in the right direction.

But I don’t think anyone felt satisfied.

Reading 3: Quotes

Invite a group of volunteers to read the following quotes from Korver’s essay, one at a time. Then ask students:

• What was it like for you to listen to these quotes from Korver’s essay?
   
• What quote resonated with you and why?

Facilitate a classroom discussion using some or all of the following questions. (You might also ask students to pick one of the quotes to research and write about before your next class to inform the discussion.)

Ask students:

• When Korver talks about “opting into” this conversation on racism, what is the point he’s trying to make? 
   
• How does this relate to title of the essay “privileged” and the idea of “white privilege?”  (Note: for more on this subject, refer students to the seminal essay by Peggy McIntosh White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack)
   
• And how does this relate to the opening tweet by Exavier Pope: “Kyle Korver thank you for saying something many black people innately know and have screamed, marched, and died for but cannot translate to the untrained white ear who refuse to hear. May others follow your example to listen.”