Many in the Black community unhappy with Kyrie Irving punishment

If you thought the only people standing with Kyrie Irving were some Alt-Right, White, Neo-Nazis, think again. While NBA fans and reporters responded with a "Finally" after news of Kyrie Irving suspension was announced, many in the Black community are not happy with the punishment.

I preface this with saying many Black Americans are happy with the punishment, but if you simply look at comment threads on social media, you'll see that it's not just a small minority of people that are protesting it. #BoycottNBA was trending yesterday on Twitter.

And it's not just strangers on social media. I've seen many comments of support for Irving from Black people I know. (White) Reporters have lamented how NBA players haven't come to the defense of the Jewish community like they supported NBA players during the Black Lives Movement in the league in 2020.

The most common response when NBA players are asked about Irving is that they don't want to talk about it. I'm sure that's at least partly due to them not wanting to get suspended themselves.

The NBA has a mixed message history when it comes to players who have supported Anti-Semitic people. The head of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, has been supported by several NBA players in the past and despite his Anti-Semitism, none of these players were ever suspended. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was widely criticized and forced to stand for the National Anthem back in the 1990's, but some twenty plus years later, 99% of NBA players and staff took a knee during the summer of 2020. The NBA has been criticized for "black balling" players like Abdul-Rauf and Craig Hodges, but was lauded for suspending Irving. Now I will be honest, I haven't looked up the book/film that he referenced, and I have no desire to give it a click.

I'm not some Kyrie apologist. I think he suffers from "Thinks he's the smartest man in the room" syndrome and is a contrarian just for the sake of being a contrarian. He will both say he wishes everyone would just leave him alone, but he also says he wants to use his public platform to enact change.

Without reading or watching the film being discussed, I can still venture a very strong guess that is is completely anti-Semitic and Irving is a fool for promoting it.

The point of this post is for the past thirteen years, we've tried at Celtics Life to not just regurgitate what everyone else says/reports. The Black community's response to Irving's suspension is not being reported for whatever reason you may venture to guess, but it's a real thing. People are upset about the Irving suspension and the plan the Nets have given him to complete to be able to return and do his job.

There is definitely a racial component to the Irving controversy that no one is discussing. Also the fact that the NBA has conducting a biddling war between Apple and Amazon over streaming rights right now comes off as a bit hypocritical. People are wondering why it's ok for the NBA to partner with the platform selling the film/book, but Irving isn't allowed to mention it. Of course like anything in business, it's about money.

The streaming rights deal will be for over $1 billion. Businesses' morals and ethics tend to align with what will earn them the most revenue.

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