Reflecting back on my experiences playing a lot of pickup basketball during the early 1970s, I think that much of what we bemoan here today started about that time. I played with and against many black teens back then. With very few exceptions, they were identical in the way they acted on the court. We white teenagers especially hated to have any talented blacks on our team, because that meant we were going to have to really fight to touch the ball, except for throwing it in to them from out of bounds. Also, this is where and when the concept of "white defense," what we still see today, was born. I saw so many examples of shoving, cursing and punching on the part of blacks who had the ball stolen by, or were stuffed by, a white defender. They simply had something in them, culturally, which didn't allow for any "white boy" to stop them on the court. I think that was the major reason why we started seeing so many timid white defenders in organized basketball about this time. Even outside the playground, white players could not depend on authority figures to back them up and hold blacks accountable for their behavior. For instance, my neighbor went to the infamous T.C. Williams High School in the 1970s (the school the entirely p.c. and ridiculous movie "Remember The Titans" was based on-that's another post in itself), and he had a disturbing incident there. During gym class, he had the nerve to steal the ball from a black youngster. The black kid hauled off and punched him in the face. The black gym teacher actually laughed at him and did nothing to the black kid!
Anyway, I'm sure any of you who played a lot of basketball will be able to relate to what I'm saying. I don't think there is any other aspect of life in which we see the common stereotypical black behavior any more clearly than during pickup basketball.
Anyway, I'm sure any of you who played a lot of basketball will be able to relate to what I'm saying. I don't think there is any other aspect of life in which we see the common stereotypical black behavior any more clearly than during pickup basketball.