The politicization of ESPN the Magazine is complete, as the October 31 NBA Preview issue features a cover story interview of NBA star Carmelo Anthony by sportswriter turned Black Lives Matter! cheerleader Howard Bryant, “The truth according to Carmelo Anthony.” The cover shot featured Anthony in radical chic mode, sporting a black beret and unleashing a font of ‘60s-tinged cliches about the Baltimore riots and Colin Kaepernick.
In a normal time, it would be implausible to sit down with Carmelo Anthony two weeks before the start of the NBA season and not talk about basketball-to not hear a word about his Knicks, his Olympic gold in Rio or his new All-Star teammates. But this isn't just any time in America. Since the early summer, when six police officers were acquitted in Anthony's hometown of Baltimore after facing charges resulting from the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, basketball for the Knicks' franchise player has become secondary to being an active, involved citizen, one aware of his power and influence-and often the limitations of each. We spent a recent afternoon together in New York talking as black citizens and parents, debating race and policing, owners and players, and the increasing politicization of sports in a tense, post-Ferguson nation. For Anthony, there is no more holding back.
HOWARD BRYANT: It sounds like there's a sort of tipping point that's happening around the country. When I talk to younger people, they have this attitude like, "We're supposed to be past this. This is why I'm upset." And then I talk to my uncles and they're like, "See, this is how it is. This is nothing new."
CARMELO ANTHONY: This is the new '60s right here. Everybody I talk to, my mom and uncles and friends, they say the same thing. They're like, "What you're seeing right now, we'd seen it already. It's new to you, but it's not new to us." I think it's bigger and much deeper than just actually seeing what's happening out there. Not just police brutality but so many other issues out there that are being swept under the rug. Our educational system is messed up. Schools are closing left and right.
Bryant seems to think that athletic fame gives you a right to an automatic megaphone and instant political credibility
HB: The thing that bothers me most about this is that people believe, especially about black athletes and black professionals in general, "Well, you made it. What's the problem?" They seem to treat you as if having success forfeits your voice, when actually it should empower your voice.
Bryant worked himself into the interview as a subject.
HB: I remember when I was in college at Temple, just walking down the street. Here come some cops, put me on the ground at gunpoint. When that happens, it can't be any more personal.
....
HB: Did you watch the Tulsa video? [Ed.'s note: The Sept. 16 shooting, captured by a police officer's dashboard camera, showed an unarmed black man, Terence Crutcher, being shot and killed by a white cop during a traffic stop. The officer, Betty Shelby, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter.]
CA: Yeah, of course.
HB: I watched that and the first thing I said was, "That's a murder." That was the first thing that hit me.
CA: Right, and you could watch that with kids, and even kids will say that. There's no more hiding news.
HB: Yet you still have a lot of people who just don't see that this is an issue.
....
HB: The dynamic in sports, the NHL aside, is white owners, white media, white coaches, black players. That dynamic makes it difficult to be understood. How do you feel like your message has been received?
Of course, San Francisco 49er QB Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest came up:
HB: Have you spoken to Colin at all? What was your initial reaction when you saw it?
CA: I spoke to him that night. He reached out to me that night. And I'm watching and I'm like, "OK." Like, "What's next?" In a very respectful way, he was like, "I took this step and, you know, just wanted to get your thoughts on what's happening." And I said, "Well, you're courageous." I said, "You just showed a lot of courage in what you just did, but now is the hard part because you have to keep it going. So if that was just a one-time thing, then you're f*****. But now you keep it going and be articulate and elaborate on why you're doing it, and be educated and knowledgeable of why you're doing it so when people ask, you can stand up for what you believe in and really let them hear why."
HB: You're talking about issues that most of America doesn't really want to talk about, yet you also just played for your country and won a gold medal. How does being called unpatriotic affect you?
....
HB: I make the argument that in the 21st century, the black athlete is the most influential black professional in the United States. There is a history, a heritage of outspokenness. Yet through about 30 years, the mid-'70s up until the late '90s, you didn't really hear a lot. So people seem surprised when they hear you talking now.
Both Bryant and Anthony dismissed the rioting -- often targeting drug stores -- in Baltimore after the death in police custody of Freddie Gray.
HB: Yet you hear this cognitive dissonance when Baltimore hits and people say, "Why are they burning down their own neighborhoods?" without realizing they aren't ours.
CA: That's right. We don't own anything. That Rite Aid? That isn't ours. And that's what I'm talking about when I say it's all part of something bigger. These times, they're crazy. It's not about the one thing. The system is broken. You hear people saying, "Justice or else." I think you're starting to see what "or else" looks like.
I would imagine Carmelo Anthony (who is set to earn $31 million this year playing for a non-competitive NBA squad) could have anything he wanted, including a drug store in Baltimore.
