According to ancient sports lore, Branch Rickey, future owner of baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers, was so saddened by the racial prejudice facing Charley Thomas, a player on Rickey’s Ohio Wesleyan team, he vowed to change the way baseball, and America, looks at African-Americans. In 1947, Rickey was finally allowed to provide the opportunity Thomas was never afforded. By signing Jackie Robinson, and allowing him the opportunity to play major league baseball, Rickey’s decision in a position of power opened doors for millions of African-Americans to play professional sports on the same level as their European-descended neighbors. In the proceeding sixty years, this opportunity has become a way to success for many African-Americans. A way that might still be closed if not for Branch Rickey.
Throughout the last few years, several basketball players of the National Basketball Association have witnessed first-hand the widespread poverty and suffering in Sub-Saharan Africa. Experiencing the conditions in Sudan and other African nations has awakened these players much on a same level as the bias against Thomas affected Rickey. The difference between these two situations, however, is huge. Whereas Rickey had not only the drive but also the position of power needed to make a change, NBA superstars lack the influence to change the situation in Darfur above an individual or community level. Alone they cannot take the necessary steps to establish opportunity and make a dramatic difference. The road to completely end the suffering in Darfur requires a long, arduous process that must compensate for every step of development and cannot cease or else the NBA will have made worse the very plight they are attempting to alleviate.
In the past year, several NBA players have made the trip to the Darfur region of Sudan. Many articles have been written about players such as Tracy McGrady, Ron Artest, Kermit Washington, Ira Newble, and Etan Thomas and their eye-opening experiences in Africa and how they were changed by those whose way of life if far different than the lifestyle of NBA superstars. The experiences of these NBA personalities, combined with the messages of African-born players such as Luol Deng and Dikembe Mutumbo, have alerted many fans to the problems of genocide, starvation, and the deprivation of human rights occuring in the Sudan.
Using Mutumbo and others’ charity as inspiration, many American-born NBA personalities have contributed to the well-being of the Darfur refugees by providing food, health care, and other amenities with the hope of improving the dire conditions of the masses.
Although this initial investment is a wonderful idea, and any assistance is good assistance to the peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa, on their current track the NBA and its ambassadors risk performing their already established aid functions for infinity. According to William Easterly, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Institute for International Economics, initial financial investment only goes so far. In his book,
The Elusive Quest for Growth, Easterly explores the impact of direct investment, educational opportunities, birth control, grants, and debt forgiveness in assisting under-developed countries. Easterly concludes that none of these “solutions” when used individually sustain growth and create self-sufficient successful nations. At some point, opportunities must be provided. According to Easterly,
“Prosperity happens when all the players in the development game have the right incentives. It happens when government incentives induce technological adaptation, high-quality investment in machines, and high-quality schooling. It happens when donors face incentives that induce them to give aid to countries with good policies where aid will have high payoffs, not to countries with poor policies where aid is wasted. It happens when the poor get good opportunities and incentives, which requires government welfare programs that reward rather than penalize earning income. It happens when politics is not polarized between antagonistic interest groups, but there is a common consensus to invest in the future.”Although far more difficult, the NBA and its employees must attempt to influence Branch Rickey-like “power players”. If the NBA was serious about stopping the atrocities in Darfur and helping the victims in the region, they would have Ira Newble, Kermit Washington, Tracy McGrady, or even Ron Artest testify in front of Congress; set-up information booths at games; donate ticket and merchandise sales to relief efforts; have survivors speak at halftime; sell Sudanese arts and crafts at arenas; and anything else that could possibly influence a solution. Instead, and
DWil of Sports On My Mind touched on this, we have individual players being hounded between seasons (never during) about their thoughts on geopolitics. The NBA is leaving its players out to dry instead of forming a lobby group that can make real change, if you believe a group of athletes can effect geopolitics.
Where is David Stern, for example, to lead the charge in meaningful change? Can't Stern influence a group of able lawmakers to provide incentives for the Sudanese government to stop its practices? If the Sudanese government does not change its ways, change will not occur no matter how many NBA players feed the hungry or vaccinate the sick.
One athlete, two athletes, one Olympic team, or a whole nation of Olympic teams cannot change the situation in Darfur. At best, they can raise awareness. Which is akin to saying "It's raining" without providing an umbrella. They can feed a few people, build a few schools, open a few medical centers, but what does that do to change the big picture? People have to understand that individuals without power cannot change policy, they can only hope to influence it. Individuals can help individual problems, but that is a mere drop in the bucket in a problem such as ethnic cleansing or genocide.
Like DWil, I don't know what we expect from our athletes. Do we expect them to put on their Superman capes and stop bullets from flying and to not only build schools and medical centers but also provide industry and opportunity? I spent years in grad school studying geopolitics and International Affairs and I still cannot give a clear answer on what should be done in Darfur in a sound byte format. And I don't think LeBron James or any other NBA personality can either.
At the beginning of the show, I tossed Dusty Rhodes an afro. He donned the 'fro, and it was quite possibly the greatest moment in Afro-Squad history! (Does Dusty need a special Afro-Squad name?)
