Game 3:Christians v Lions
Recently, during Game 3 of the playoff series between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers, forward for the Clippers, Montrezl Harrell, appears to have called Luka Doncic a certain kind of “white boy”. Time doesn’t need to spent on whether or not people should call one another names, especially race-based expletives. The most interesting and troubling aspect of this entire event, however, did not take place on the court, but in the press box between the sports commentators and in the subsequent silence from the NBA.
Kenny Smith, from Inside NBA, in discussion about the interaction stated that a comment like Harrell’s can’t be considered racism because racism requires power in order to exist. “But it’s not racism, because it had no power. Racism you have to have power. Which means if I do something to you I have power over you for you can’t do anything else. Luka, he can’t stop Luka from playing in the NBA. He can’t stop him from being himself. He can’t stop him from hitting game winners. Like, there’s no power in what he’s saying.” He went on to differentiate between the reality that the comment was ‘racist’ but that it was not ‘racism.’
And here we see the lines of distinction between the justified and the condemned, according to critical race theory, running right off the page. How in the world can Kenny Smith argue that a millionaire sports celebrity has no power? If anyone in any system ever held power, wouldn’t it belong to those with wealth, prestige, and fame? Either wealth and fame no longer count as power if one is black or Smith must want to argue that systems alone hold true power and therefore only governments and corporations could be truly guilty. In this case though, all individuals are exonerated of racism.
To start with, this defining of racism as “prejudice plus power” is regularly traced back to Pat Bidol’s 1970 publication, Developing New Perspectives on Race. Upon first hearing, many assume the definition to be something they are not equipped to challenge, even if it sounds questionable. Sometimes this is because people assume that only books have the power to make or remake definitions and sometimes it is because many fear that any mishandling of race issues in any way will nominate one as a racist.
Critical race theorists (CRT) should be happy to know that the more successful they are in promoting critical race theory, the more prevalent true racism will become. The existence of the job creates job security. The lens does not see racism, it sows racism. These are extremely delicate explosives. Healthy people do not want to be told that, according to new definitions, the innocent will now have to plead guilty and the guilty are now considered incapable of being guilty.
Proverbs 17:15 He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.
This is not to say that privilege does not produce components of systems within which prejudice or racism can hide. Of course it can. I was thinking about this recently, while watching The Color of Compromise with Jemar Tisby. I often think of this country as being a safe-haven for Christians. This is something that, at times, I can see being threatened. But, for the most part, I am tempted to imagine that Christians have never been targeted with violence, at least not as a group. Of course, this is not true, but my assumption is is not to be conflated with racism, because, whether it be the 1963 Birmingham church bombing or the attack on the Amish community at the West Nickel Mines school, my place of religious instruction has never been fired upon and therein lies my privilege.
Privilege is not something that needs to be repented of, but something that needs to be treated like a blind spot. Tisby brings up some very crucial and painful moments in American Church history that could help in sensitizing Christians in necessary ways and contribute perspective to areas that may at present be perspective-less. Unfortunately, Tisby also begins the series by using a CRT definition of racism which is broken from the start.
Regarding the Doncic/Harrell interaction, Ernie Johnson said that the NBA was not planning on making an official statement concerning the interaction, but that the incident had been addressed privately and the case was closed. Everyone understands what is happening here. Only one perspective is being tolerated. Apparently, justice is not able to balance things appropriately and so a kind of historic social credit needs to be brought into view. White people need to be kept from being treated fairly, because white people, as a group, have a social debt from the past. Repenting of the systemic past can build social credit. From Facebook to Racebook.
Charles Barkley, again, proving to be one of the NBA’s few voices of sanity willing to move in the realms of common sense, despite the gauntlet he had to endure as a consequence, said, “He [Harrell] was wrong and he apologized.” This, he ventured amidst a barrage of contradiction from Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith who were falling all over themselves in order to reject the idea of Harrell’s speech as being anything related to race whatsoever.
To reiterate, trash talking is not the worst crime on the table here. I’d venture to say that Kenny Smith is more dangerous and more culpable than Montrezl Harrell. We cannot underestimate what is happening here. History makes it painfully clear where this undoing of language will take us.
Abortion, by far the greatest threat to black lives, has been successfully rebranded as women’s health. What kind of monster would dare to say he is against women’s health? With the same hermeneutic, critical theory undoes language in every genre it touches. If critical theory is given sanctuary, future Game 3 episodes could very well showcase Christians versus lions. No doubt, Kenny Smith and the likes will explain how its not what it seems, since animals have spent years being hunted by people. Putting a few Christians in the ring with lions is simply reparations.
