Posted With (Minimal) Comment.

(crossposted)

Via Think Progress (by way of Kay Steiger) is the most comically racist thing I’ve seen in a long time:

A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn’t receiving a warm welcome.

The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.

“Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league,” the statement said. […]

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.”

I’m not racist, I just think black people are savages who don’t count as “real Americans.” To cop from Ta-Nehisi, there are truly no racists in America.

Jamelle

Jamelle Bouie is a writer for Slate. He has also written for The Daily Beast, The American Prospect and The Nation. His work centers on politics, race, and the intersection of the two.

You can find him on Twitter, Flickr, and Instagram as jbouie.
  • Grump

    everybody remembers Artest and Jackson going into the stands. But they also tend to forget the fan who tossed the drink on Artest while he was on the officials’ table.

  • um, that’s not The Onion. Unreal.

    • Val

      Lol, I was thinking the SAME thing. That this must be from The Onion.

      Why do White people act like the biggest thugs in all of sports aren’t White? Just watch a hockey game.

  • blackink12

    I would pay good money to see one of these games. Or I could just watch an endless loop of the Washington Generals. Either way.