Skin color, which vies with sexuality for distinction as the most tedious subject in America, has once again made headlines.
Stephen Jackson, who won the 2002-03 NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs and who happens to be black, illustrated the modern mind’s toxic obsession with race when he denigrated black journalist Gayle King, co-host of “CBS Mornings,” for using the first-person plural pronoun “we” when referring to fans who rooted for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team and superstar guard Caitlin Clark, who happens to be white.
“I don’t consider her black media,” Jackson said of King in a short video posted to Instagram on Saturday.
The former NBA champion cited the veteran journalist’s conduct during an interview with South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley, who also happens to be black.
On April 7, the Gamecocks completed an undefeated season with an 87-75 win over Iowa in the NCAA championship game.
Clark, who helped elevate the popularity of women’s basketball, finished her career as the NCAA Division I all-time scoring leader. On April 15, the Indiana Fever selected Clark with the 1st overall pick in the WNBA draft.
Jackson who played 17 NBA seasons with eight different teams, had nothing negative to say about Clark.
He did, however, betray the ugly tribalism at the root of “race” consciousness when he criticized King for not behaving as he thought a black journalist should behave.
Do you think that Caitlin Clark is talked about too much?
Yes: 29% (7 Votes)
No: 71% (17 Votes)
Race, of course, has no meaning outside of human tribalism. As a biological factor, skin color matters as much as eye color or hair color — that is to say, not at all.
Nor is this a new argument. In fact, lawyers for the plaintiff made this same anti-segregation argument — in vain, as it turned out — during the infamous 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
But this does not satisfy people who cling to tribalism and will not let it go.
“Y’all give her all these passes because she f*** with — she’s Oprah[‘s] friend. I don’t give a f*** whose friend she is. That don’t do nothing for nobody,” Jackson said of King.
In her interview with Staley, King said, “We were all cheering for Iowa, of course, and Caitlin Clark,” according to the New York Post.
Jackson took issue with a statement so offensive to tribalists.
“But you cannot demean Dawn Staley like that. You talkin’ to her about winning the championship, about going undefeated. And you have the nerve to get on there and say, ‘Well, we was rootin’ for Caitlin Clark, and you broke everybody hearts,’” Jackson said on Instagram.
He assumed that King, because of her darker complexion, should speak for others with a dark complexion.
“Who is ‘we’? Who is ‘we’? All the black people I know was rootin’ for Dawn Staley,” Jackson said.
Again, the former NBA champion did not attack Clark personally. But he did take issue with King celebrating Clark at what he regarded as Staley’s expense.
“We all fans of Caitlin Clark. But the way you put it? That s*** was trash,” he said.
“You just demeaned [Staley] and made it about Caitlin Clark. That’s trash — super-trash,” he later added.
Readers may view Jackson’s full comments in the video below.
WARNING: The following video contains vulgar language some readers may find offensive.
King, of course, did nothing wrong.
Nor did Staley, whose undefeated South Carolina team deserves all the accolades it gets.
Nor did Clark, whose playing style and scoring prowess attracted many thousands of new fans.
Only Jackson, who cannot let go of the shopworn tribalism we call “race,” came out of this looking boorish.
