Race Does Matter

The "Basketball for Thought" is a commentary by Kris Gardner.

February 2002

While it has become more and more difficult to come up with new "Basketball for Thoughts" and simply finishing monthly issues altogether, I was struck with an obvious idea for an article thanks to recent comments made by Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson at a Monday press conference. My opinion may upset some people; but, I'm not concerned with that because hardly anyone will give me any feedback on this anyway. But, I digress, my point is this: race does matter. Period. Point blank. Bottom line.

The quotes are taken from the press conference; and, other information is from wire stories.

"I've earned the right to have the season I've had," said coach Nolan Richardson at a press conference on February 25.

Richardson opened his news conference Monday by asking an aide to read a note from the family of a recruit praising the coach. Richardson then said the reason good players come to Arkansas is because he is coach.

"The No. 1 thing that's talked in our deal is that the greatest thing going for the University of Arkansas is Nolan Richardson. Secondly, all the key football players talk to Nolan Richardson. Why?" Richardson asked rhetorically.

"When I look at all of you people in this room, I see no one look like me, talk like me or act like me," he said.

"Now, why don't you recruit? Why don't the editors recruit like I'm recruiting?"

Richardson, the only black among the Fayetteville campus' 17 head coaches, also said he doesn't expect to be treated differently just because of his race.

"See, my great-great-grandfather came over on the ship, I didn't," he said. "And I don't think you understand what I'm saying. My great-great-grandfather came over on the ship. Not Nolan Richardson.

"I did not come over on that ship, so I expect to be treated a little bit different," he said. "Because I know for a fact that I do not play on the same level as the other coaches around this school play on. I know that. You know it. And people of my color know that. And that angers me."

Coach Richardson is exactly right on all counts. First, a lot of Arkansas' top black football players talk to him and no other coach on campus for one simple reason: he's black and he understands what the kids are experiencing and the problems they're facing. That's not a bad thing, that's reality. Many people feel comfortable talking with someone of their own race before speaking with anyone else.

While I don't know it for a fact, if Nolan's presence would provide that "something extra" for the kid to commit to Arkansas, I'm quite sure Nolan has been asked to "drop by the office" or "come speak to a parent" in order to ease a potential recruit's mind or set mom and dad at ease about life at the University of Arkansas.

Next, there aren't many black (African-American) members of the sports media in Houston let alone Arkansas; so, it's hard to dispute coach's comments about seing "no one like him in the room". I don't know the reasons why there are so few of "us" in sports media; but, I know many of the black basketball players enjoy talking to me because I look like "one of them". That's a fact. I've experienced it first hand; and, I've heard it from my mentors and a some of my peers, too, especially regarding veteran ball players who have very rarely been covered by a black sports journalist throughout their playing careers.

I pride myself on being one of the most open-minded people around; however, I'm being very honest when I say I think about a person's race in certain situations. Hell, just today, when I finally saw Duke signee C / F Shavlik Randolph for the first time and saw that he was caucasian my very first reaction was "I sure hope he can play; and, he's not another Danny Ferry." That's reality. Another example is when I first saw cornerback Jason Sehorn play football at USC, I quickly thought he's toast simply because he was white and the stereotype that white guys can't run had to apply to Jason. I was very wrong about him.

Please don't pass off Nolan Richardson's comments as him simply "blowing off steam" because I've been called a nigger and treated "differently" because of my skin color; so, I can only imagine what he's experienced through his 60 plus years on Earth. He is treated "differently at Arkansas" just like Tubby Smith is held to a different standard at the University of Kentucky.

In the year 2002, should a person's race matter, of course it shouldn't. But, the sooner you accept that it does matter, the sooner you can change the way people are perceived and treated.