How the NBA Became Our New Black Superheroes
T’Challa rests in power, but a nation of powerful Black men have donned the cape
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
As one Black superhero, Chadwick Boseman, rests in power, another group of Black men have worked to don the cape. Last week, the Milwaukee Bucks adorned their cape and accepted the responsibility to make the world a better place. By refusing to come out of the locker room to play a scheduled playoff game after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the team effectively ratcheted up the pressure for the Wisconsin state legislature to address racial justice — even if that legislature ultimately opted for inaction — and sparked a wave of work stoppages across professional sports.
Sports has always been one of the three muses that inspires my work. (The other two are Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and N.W.A’s “Fuck tha Police,” both of which speak to the atrocity done to Black people at the hands of authority.) Song can tell a story of community, of pain, suffering, and gives voice to the voiceless. Sports is the agitator of conversation, of social construct. We all have a touchpoint with sports, even if we’re not active viewers. It looms large in society. It’s the start to many…
