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04/18/2005:

"Jermaine O'Neal, Race and Hip Hop"

After a game in Toronto last week, Indiana Pacers all-star forward Jermaine O'Neal was asked a blissfully simple question about NBA Commissioner David Stern's desire to see players banned from the NBA before their 20th birthday. A Canadian reporter queried, "Is it because you guys are Black that the league is trying to put an age limit on the draft?" O'Neal, maybe because he was feeling the cool breezes of social democracy, responded freely, without a censor, without a filter, and without approval from his sneaker company.

He said, "In the last two years, the rookie of the year has a been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star game, so why we even talking an age limit? As a black guy, you kind of think that's the reason why it's coming up. You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it's unconstitutional. If I can go to the U.S. army and fight the war at 18, why can't you play basketball for 48 minutes?'' Now the harpies of sports radio have descended upon O'Neal like he tipped over the Pope's coffin in Vatican City. He has been called stupid. He has been told to "just shut up." He has basically been treated like Joseph Massad at a JDL meeting. All of this because he spoke a truth that made much of the US sports media squirm.
Full Article: counterpunch.org