NBA Lockout: Is the NBA's Loaded-Gun Metaphor Racist and Inappropriate?

The NBA attempted to block the Players Union from using a similar tactic the NFL used, i.e. dissolving the union and filing an anti-trust law suit. The argument they used that it was tantamount to a "loaded gun."

The judge's response was that if the players did have a "loaded gun," they hadn't shown there were any bullets in it. 

Perhaps it's just the liberal in me, but I'm a bit shocked at the language that the NBA used in their argument.

This is after all a league that has been very sensitive to the gun issue in the past. Gilbert Arenas was suspended for a year. The Washington Bullets changed their name. It's been an issue. 

There has been a lot of racial undertones to these proceedings as well. First, there's the general feeling that this isn't just a "billionaires vs. millionaires" disagreement. It's a bit of a rich old white men versus young black men flavor to this one. 

There was the "pointing" incident where David Stern reportedly wagged his finger at Dwyane Wade, who redressed Stern, "You're not pointing your finger at me. I'm not your child." The white authority figure trying to put the young, virile black man in his place? The only word missing here is "uppity." 

Then there was Bryant Gumbel's assertion that Stern was, like a "modern slave owner, whose bigger priority is to demean players, rather than find a solution to the league’s lockout."

Gumbel added that “Stern’s version of what’s been going on behind closed doors has, of course, been disputed. But his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys."

Then there is the issue of Donald Sterling, who has been proven to discriminate against blacks, was reported to have the habit of bringing women into the locker rooms encouraging them, "look at those beautiful black bodies." 

Stern has never investigated or fined Sterling for his racist actions, though. 

Furthermore, there has been a number of grumblings regarding things like the dress code and the tightening of the rules on technical fouls, all of which seem to be designed to keep the players "in line," so to speak. This is in a league that has the highest percentage of black athletes in professional sports. 

Absent all the other things, the "loaded gun" metaphor might be perfectly innocent, but when you take it in together, it's conceivable that the NBA is trying to produce this subliminal image in the heads of white fans of a bunch of baggy-pantsed, gun-toting, Gilbert Arenas-types holding rich white men at gunpoint, veritably mugging them. 

Whether it's intentional or not, I find it offensive. If it is intentional, then it's obviously wrong. If it's not, then it should have been more thought out. There are plenty of ways of making the same point without using a potentially racially charged metaphor to do so.