Jalen Rose used his ESPN podcast recently
to slander USA Basketball for adding the Cleveland Cavalier’s Kevin
Love to its 12-man Olympic roster. He noted that, “Kevin Love did not have a stellar season, was
not the best player on his team, and did not necessarily deserve to be on this
squad." The former NBA player said of the veteran power forwards
addition to Team USA, "Kevin
Love is on the team because of tokenism.” He added that those who chose Love
should not have been “scared to make an all-Black team representing the United
States of America,” apparently forgetting or unaware that the 2016 US Olympic team
was all-Black.
Accusing USA Basketball of racism for assembling a team consisting
of 11 Black players and one white one is rich enough on its face. When viewed
through the progressive prism of equity over all, however, it becomes the
height of hypocrisy. Merit doesn’t matter, equality of outcome is everything.
Mr. Rose can’t have his cake and eat it, too. Like every other organization or
entity, Team USA should look like America. That means, in a just world, nearly
70% of Team USA would be white, slightly over half would be female, and at
least 7 team members would be self-professed Christians.
Also, only roughly 8% of the squad would be millionaires, as
opposed to 100% of the current selectees.
Apparently, in the minds of those like Rose, a “token” Black
person on, say, a corporate board or the Supreme Court is a bad thing because it
is not enough. Yet, placing Love on Team USA is a form of “tokenism” that
is also bad because it unnecessarily keeps a qualified Black person from the
position. In other words, it is too much. Therefore, a Black “token” is
a symbol of systemic racism and white supremacy. And, remarkably, a white
“token” is, too.
Am I the only one who wants to cry “foul” at this obvious
display of hypocrisy?
Progressives, what’s wrong with just choosing Love?
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