Sheryl Swoopes Is Trying To Instill CRT In Basketball | Bobby Burack

Sheryl Swoopes defended herself this week against accusations of racism following her bitter tirade against Caitlin Clark by declaring that "black people can't be racist." 

The comment is farcical. Black people can be racist. Some black people are racist. That is true of any race that has ever existed. 

Yet Swoopes' argument underscores a wider trend, a trend taught in some schools across the country. 

The belief that black people cannot be racist is derived from Critical Race Theory, CRT – particularly from Ibram X. Kendi’s teaching of the concept.

In layman's terms, the argument goes as follows:

Black people do not possess the structural power to oppress white people, therefore nothing they do to or say about a white person shall qualify as "racist."  Whereas white people control all U.S. institutions and have thus used said inherent power to limit the success rate of black Americans. 

CRT also teaches its followers that black people can’t fly a plane without commitments of DEI, or obtain an ID to vote in the election. CRT believes black people do not have agency or influence in society.

It’s a lie. All of it. 

Black people are not inferior. They are not influence-less. 

Swoopes’ argument is particularly buffoonish when you consider she’s making the case that black people do not have agency in the sport of basketball.

Professional and collegiate basketball are primarily black sports for both men and women. 

The most powerful players in basketball are black: LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.

As are the most powerful voices in basketball media: Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith.

Any one of those pundits has the power to swing an entire MVP election.

Last week, Stephen A. joked that ESPN research confirmed that Jayson Tatum’s MVP odds "skyrocketed" after Stephen A. argued in favor of Tatum, even without much merit.

Last year, Nikola Jokic was the prohibited favorite to win the award. His odds plummeted after Kendrick Perkins unjustly accused voters of holding a racial bias in favor of white people.

Voters ultimately voted for Joel Embiid, in response to Perkins' accusations. 

Hardly any white people have come to the defense of Clark or Jokic. Of course, not. White players and reporters do not want to incite racial backlash from which they cannot recover.

They'd rather self-censor.  

The surrounding conversation disproportionately favors black players, as a result of fear.  Black basketball players are not second-tier citizens, as Swoopes suggests.

And Critical Race Theory is not gospel. 

CRT is an inherently faulty concept that's rarely indicative of the truth. At its core, CRT is a Marxian concept that seeks to normalize racist measures against white people as a form of payback for the past.

When you imply said concept to basketball, you get an industry at large that downplayed Montrezl Harrell calling Luka Doncic a "bitch ass white boy" and a recent trend in which several black players resorted to violence during scoffs with white players.

Does that sound like progress to you?

Black people can be racist, too.