Racism and Women’s Basketball.
Written by Ana Dean
The WNBA has always faced racism and homophobia, but as the league continues to gain more and more traction — it seems to also be gaining more and more rude and out of touch “fans”. The WNBA is a predominantly Black lead league (around 70%) with a high number of players identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
At this point in the game you would expect people to let players live their lives off the court without feeling the need to comment, but no. These women have faced intense hate online and offline, with people going as far as to yell racial slurs during games.
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert had made a statement on the hate that players have been receiving in this league, and to many fans and players distaste it felt like a cold pity response. With one quote of hers reading
“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.”
Which was not the response that fans and players were looking for, especially because it didn’t seem to condone the hate and remarks that fans had been making about certain star players.
After Caitlin Clark made her College Debut, everyone knew she was going to be a star. She had full control over the court and could drain any three when she was given the opportunity. When her collegiate career took off at Iowa she also brought in a new and larger fan base into the sport of basketball, also known as the “Caitlin Clark effect”. You’re probably wondering about how this ties into the major problems that the league is facing, but it isn’t any of the player’s fault, it’s the fans. Using the fact that Clark is a white woman in an African American lead sport so called “fans” used her name to push racist agendas against players like Angel Reese.
Racism by definition means: prejudice or discrimination by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people based on their membership in a racial or ethnic group.
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That is exactly what we have been seeing in this league since the beginning and even heightened now.
- Paige Bueckers ESPY speech — 2021
As former UConn and now Dallas Wings player Paige Bueckers said in her ESPY award speech in 2021 “I want to show a light on black women, they don’t get the media coverage they deserve. They’ve given so much to this sport and the community and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable.”
Bueckers’ speech covered everything that it needed to. It is true that the media likes to fixate on the white players without covering the others.
So why do people still take players like Clark and Bueckers and use them against their Black teammates and opponents? Well, when the league started, they had to appeal to a majority of white men. As American’s know, the country is plagued with an overflow of racism and a league like the WNBA was unheard of.
“Fans” push narratives that white players are better or deserve more media attention than people of color. At the end of the day, everyone is here to play the sport they love and things like this should never happen.
“How can we help?”
To help make this change and move this push to end things like racism and homophobia in this sport, it is important to speak out against people who say things that are harmful. Find your voice and use it to push change. Everyone is equal in the world of sports. Race does not define how well a player plays.
