Caitlin Clark Fever Is Misogynoir Mixed With White Supremacy
The "fans" don't care about CC or the WNBA…
America is an interesting country. By interesting I mean deeply racist, flawed, and ready to show it under any “benign” circumstance. This includes sports.
This year, a phenom by the name of Caitlin Clark entered the WNBA playing for the Indiana Fever. Great. The thing is — Caitlin Clark is white. You don’t get it? Yeah, I don’t either.
Caitlin Clark is white in a predominantly Black league. This brought extra attention to her and the league. This extra attention brought in more money to the WNBA. More tickets have been sold, and more games have been watched, while most of the media coverage involves Caitlin Clark in some shape, form, or fashion. This should be a win for everyone, right?
Wrong.
The first season of the WNBA was in 1997. Why does it take a white player joining the league to bring attention and coverage to the game? What about the players who have been holding the league down for almost thirty years? It’s a fair question. Why are people wrong to ask this?
The answer is racism.
Because of these dynamics the entire season has been a cesspool of misogynoir, false narratives, and the WNBA has become a new breeding ground for the racist white mentality I refer to as the white American lynch mob. Lynch mobbers use any excuse to be vile racists. They are violent with their words and frequently their actions.
This is what a person posted last night from the Indiana Fever v. Connecticut Sun game where the Fever were eliminated from the playoffs.
I’m at the Sun/Fever game and the vibe is HORRENDOUS. The woman behind me was mocking DiJonai’s eyelashes & only stopped when my partner turned around & told her to stop being racist. There’s a man in a MAGA hat. Then there’s THIS woman in a “ban nails” shirt & cartoonishly fake nails:
This is sad but not shocking. The American lynch mob just needs a reason. Make no mistake about it — the mob doesn’t care about basketball and they don’t care about Caitlin Clark. Under the guise of protecting her white womanhood, they are using her as a reason to spew racial hatred. Through creating the false narrative of Black players, and fans, bullying Clark and resenting her game and the attention she’s being paid, they are using her as a shield to do to Black players, and fans, what they claim is being done to Clark. This is typical behavior from them. Misogynoir, a combination of racism and sexism, intensifies their vitriol. I am a huge NFL fan, and I’ve never witnessed this type of behavior before. Sending death threats to players should never happen in sports. Racial animosity shouldn’t be at the center of any sport, and let’s not forget, these athletes aren’t making millions of dollars to alleviate at least some of the harassment and animus they face. Black women, unfortunately, are an easy target for racists.
Clark, herself, received negative feedback from outraged fans when she liked Taylor Swift’s Instagram post endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Some of her “fans” said they would no longer watch her. What do her politics, or call for young people to vote, have to do with her game?
As reported by IndyStar —
Since Clark “liked” Swift’s post, the Fever rookie has received many responses. Some have been supportive while others have been upset.
“Definitely should have stayed out of politics @caitlinclark22,” one poster stated. “Loved watching you but now I refuse after seeing you support Taylor swift and Kamala.”
This is what I mean when I say they don’t support her; they support her whiteness.
Things took an even worse turn when Clark was poked in the eye accidentally by Connecticut Sun player, DiJonai Carrington, on Sunday. To make matters more complicated (to some), Carrington’s girlfriend, NaLyssa Smith, is Clark’s teammate on the Indiana Fever.
Many Clark fans believed Carrington intentionally poked Clark in the eye with her “long, ghetto, Black woman acrylic fingernail.” Many of the insults towards the Black women in the league have been about hair weave, physical appearance, perceived masculinity and aggressiveness, and comparisons to animals. On the other hand, Clark is perceived as delicate and innocent. One reporter even asked Carrington if she poked Clark in the eye on purpose.
As reported by Yahoo News —
Even though it was very clearly a basketball play that wasn’t intentional, Carrington was asked whether she poked Clark on purpose Tuesday ahead of their Game 2 matchup Wednesday night.
“I don’t even know why I would intend to hit anybody in the eye,” Carrington said. “That doesn’t even make sense to me. But no, I didn’t. I didn’t know I hit her, actually. I was trying to make a play on the ball and I guess I followed through and I hit her.
“Obviously it’s never intentional. That’s not even like the type of player that I am.”
Clark also denied the poke in the eye being intentional.
“It wasn’t intentional by any means,” she said. “Just watch the play.”
Still, Carrington has received death threats and there have been calls for a ban on long fingernails in the WNBA.
Carrington shared this email she received on social media —
Worthless ni**er bi**h
I hope someone rapes you and cuts your head off
Shameful and absolutely vile behavior.
It’s okay for white people to identify with Clark, and for her to be their favorite because of that identification. I did the same thing with Venus & Serena Williams, Dominique Dawson, and Surya Bonaly. It is not okay to use that to declare, and further promote, the false concept of white supremacy. It is not okay to use Caitlin Clark being your favorite to denigrate, abuse, and harrass Black women. I have read some of the most vile comments from Clark fans towards Black women and Black people. When I write, or engage with social media about the topic, I’ve also had the same vitriol aimed at me. Is this America? Yes, this is America. Racism is America’s favorite pasttime.
Furthermore, it should have never been allowed. In the words of Connecticut Sun player, Alyssa Thomas— it is unacceptable.
This is what she has to say, per NBC Connecticut—
“I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base,” she said. “It’s unacceptable and honestly there’s no place for it. We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it.”
This should have never been allowed to happen. The WNBA should have done its part to end it, and so should have the networks and publications who allowed their journalists to feed into a racist narrative.
The WNBA finally released a statement after the postgame comments made by Thomas and the Suns coach, Stephanie White.
Too little. Too late. Per NBC Connecticut —
The WNBA issued a statement on social media defending its players shortly after Thomas’ and White’s postgame comments.
“The WNBA is a competitive league with some of the most elite athletes in the world,” the statement read. “While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league.”
The statement added the league would involve law enforcement as necessary.
WNBA players and their union spoke out against Commissioner Cathy Engelbert a few weeks ago when she failed to condemn racist and bitter criticism from some fans toward the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry during a TV interview. She later clarified that she’s vehemently opposed to “hate or racism.”
Hopefully, the WNBA stands on its statement and will do its part to stop the racial abuse next season.
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Why am I not surprised? Shameful !