When asked about having a school dress code, one may cringe at the issue. Teens and Adults in general, usually don’t like to be told what to and what not to wear. Well, in the National Basketball Association, much controversy has been stirred up this year. The league has decided to generate a league-wide dress code for all the players. While this may sound like a good thing, many people have taken notice that the dress code specifically targets African American players. With a quick look at the code it doesn’t seem to be specific about targeting one group of people. The dress code states that players are required to wear Business Casual attire whenever they are engaged in team or league business; players who are in attendance at games but not in uniform are required to wear a Sport Coat, Dress shoes or boots, and socks, when Players leave the arena they may wear either Business Casual attire or neat warm-up suits issued by their teams, and for special events or appearances, exceptions may be made. Now, looking at what the code states probably didn’t make anybody consider the fact that African Americans are being besieged by the NBA; but give it a closer look and you will find exactly what has caused such controversy throughout the NBA and urban culture throughout the country.
What you don’t see at first glance, is what the league lists as “items that players are not permitted to wear at any time while on team or league business.” The “excluded” items on the list precedes as follows, Sleeveless shirts, Shorts, T-shirts, jerseys, or sports apparel, Headgear (Hats) of any kind while a player is sitting on the bench or in the stands at a game, during media interviews, or during a team or league event, Chains, pendants, or medallions worn over the player’s clothes, Sunglasses while indoors, and Headphones (other than on the team bus or plane, or in the team locker room.) Jerseys, chains, medallions, hats, headphones etc. are all part of what make up the foundation for the clothing style of Hip-Hop culture.
Hip-Hop culture consists of African Americans and others who are not of the race, but who embrace the culture as their own. Many of the African American players in the NBA dress and present themselves in ways that illustrate their passion for this desired and somewhat controversial culture which is driven by music and the urban way of living. Seeing how distant this viewpoint is from what the “league” believes, the NBA presumed that they should do something about it. And they did, by tackling the dress code; the central element (other than music) in which Hip-Hop culture is expressed.
I recently spoke with a gentleman by the name of Professor Hill on the issue. Professor Hill is an Assistant Professor of Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I posed the question whether or not Hip Hop culture plays a role in the way that African American players dress and whether or not the NBA set-up the dress code because they did not want to be portrayed in such a way. Professor Hill replied, “Of course. This is what makes it so hypocritical. The NBA has profited enormously from hip-hop style, language, music, and mentality. They have allowed us to romanticize the `hood, try-on ghetto identity, and fantasize about “the other”. Now that the other not-so-glamorous parts of hip-hop are coming back to bite them, they’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater.” Professor Hill makes a great point, saying that the NBA has profited so much from the culture, and let us “try-it-on” for a while, but now since the “not-so-glamorous” parts of the culture are starting to come into the public eye, the league decides to takeaway from what has made them so successful in drawing audiences and making a profit, that they just decide to throw it out altogether because of their “fear” of being portrayed in a way that does not suit their style.
Professor Hill also made another good point, saying that the Pistons-Pacers “Brawl” of 2004 played a substantial role in the sudden change of installing a dress code for the 2005 season. I asked the Professor what he saw as the reasoning behind the NBA dress code, and this is what he had to say “The expressed reason and the real reason are two slightly different things. The league’s expressed reason is that it wants to change its image in order to retain or regain its fan base. The underlying premise is that the current image has come under assault after the Pistons-Pacers brawl of 2004. Ever since, the league has been desperately trying to prove that it hasn’t been overrun by thugs. The dress code is a smoke signal to its White fans that they have recouped control of the players.”
The NBA must have seen the way that players dressed as being too “thug” or “gangsta”, and all of a sudden perceived this image as “intolerable”. Here’s the 2004 “Brawl” situation: Ron Artest comes to the arena before a game in loose-fit jeans, a Du-Rag, a throwback jersey, some white kicks, and a nice collection of jewelry. During a crucial and heated moment in a big game, Ron gets shoved by one of the opponents’ players and retaliates with the same action. Things finally start to calm down and Ron decides to rest on the scorers table to bring himself back to a sense of normalcy. As he does this (Ron’s team was on the road) a fan in the stands throws his nicely-filled cup of beer towards Artest, hitting him in the area of his head, causing Artest to violently get up and run into the stands to confront the dim-witted fan. Punches are thrown and both teams get into it (with fans and players) and all hell breaks loose.
Players are suspended, fans are condemned, and all is back to normal and good with the NBA, right? No, things in the eyes of the NBA were obviously not right because now, a year later we have the commissioner of the NBA instituting a dress code specifically banning things that were worn by the players that day and previous days before that. Who wore and still wears these items? The majority of African American players, who express themselves with their Hip-Hop culture through their outfits of choice. Don’t we have such a thing in this country as freedom of speech? Well, apparently in the NBA we don’t.
Just because players may dress in “Hip-Hop” style clothing, wear shiny jewelry, and sporty headgear does not mean that they are thugs, gangsta’s, criminals, or degenerates. They are people of a “different” race in a white-powered organization who want to freely express who they are and what they stand for as a people, but who have been discriminated against for it. Yes, there is a new dress code now for the players, and they do have to abide by it or suffer the consequences, but just because something may sound good, does not mean that it is right.
3 replies on “Race Isn’t The Issue?”
I’d remove the ?!?
just one ? will do.
don’t know.. I don’t think that they way Artest looked when he walked into the locker room on the day of the Brawl constituted what happened later on in the game. The fan that threw that beer at him probably wasn’t thinking “Hey let me throw my Bud at him because he looked like a moron coming into the stadium today.”
2 points One is the fact that people are going crazy over the dress code. Try going into a job interview or into an office in a doo-rag, giant bling, and a giant throwback jersey. It’s just unacceptable and in an interview, chances are they won’t even talk to you. It is a PROFESSIONAL sport which means player should act and dress professionally. Also if you go into an office or a set dress code work-area, usually adults don’t “cringe” at being told what to wear because it’s just the way your supposed to dress. You may not understand that becuase my guess is that your in high school, but that’s the deal. My second point is that these clothes are not just associated with being afro American anymore. Other players that are Caucasian also wear this style of clothing or similar non-professional clothing. Although we laugh at the white kids who try to dress hip-hop, NBA players of all races tend to dress unprofessionally.