Civil Liberties

Racist Basketball

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According to the Augusta Chronicle, there is apparently going to be a 12-team whites-only basketball league called the All-American Basketball Alliance. Because you can't be all American if you have any of that yucky black/foreigner blood, get it? "Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play," says the league's initial press release. From the article:

Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."

Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.

"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."

My prediction: This league will never launch.

Link via Andrew Sullivan.