Racial Divide in the WNBA Runs Wider Than the Grand Canyon

The Alyssa Thomas-Caitlin Clark on-court kerfuffle late last month sadly sparked, for many, a Marvin Gaye “Make You Wanna Holler, Put Up Both Your Hands” moment.

Phoenix’s Thomas made contact with Indiana’s Clark’s throat during a loose-ball scramble during Indiana’s June 24 111-109 loss to Phoenix. League officials later reviewed the play, upgraded it to a Flagrant 2 foul and suspended Thomas for one game.

Social media and media know-it-alls afterward went bonkers. Rob Knox admitted last week that he experienced a Gaye moment and shared it on his Substack post. He’s a longtime Black journalist and friend with whom we both share a passion for women’s basketball.

“I’ve noticed a troubling pattern. Whenever something negative happens to Clark, a wave of people emerges from the darkest corners of the internet. They weaponize the moment to spread racism, demean Black women, attack the WNBA, and say things they would likely never utter face-to-face,” wrote Knox.

Amidst the noise, Thomas and her family have since received death threats. Make you want to holler.

And finally, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert released a “We don’t tolerate hate” statement, though she always seems to be a dollar short when it comes to such matters, which often does nothing to quell things.

America loves heroes and villains, good vs. evil. In the W, are Black female players bad, non-Black players good?

Credit: Courtesy of X

Furthermore, the WNBA didn’t properly prepare for Clark, who quickly became its great White hope, the so-called All-American girl that advertisers and fans have waited so long for upon her arrival two seasons ago. Definitely, they weren’t prepared for a sudden influx of WBs (W bandwagon) fans that the Indiana guard attracts, along with the racial divisiveness on social media and a Clark obsession among some.

Some fans and media blindly gave Clark credit for the new seven-year CBA over WNBA Players Union President Nneka Ogwumike, who is Black, and her negotiating team, many of whom are also Black, including Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier.

Instead of talking about the many great performances we’ve seen thus far this season, the Thomas-Clark affair has become the talk of the town. Instead of talking about inconsistent officiating, we’re talking about the continued racial divisiveness that grows wider than the Grand Canyon in the W.

Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique, now dean of Benedict College’s Education, Health and Human Services school, and Dr. Ajhanai (AJ) Keaton, an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, both spoke to us last week in separate phone interviews. The two Black women regularly study the intersection of race, gender, social politics and sport.

“There’s no scholarly evidence that I know of where we actually have a representative sample of who Caitlin Clark fans are,” said Keaton. “I think there’s kind of an imagery or a caricature that we kind of assume comes with her. We’ve had other star White female players.”

“I think in this era, the sociopolitical context of Trumpism, I think what’s happening in the context with White nationalism,” she pointed out.

Dr. Akilah added, “I think it’s on the court and off the court. Black women, whether they are players or in the front office, are always under a different level of surveillance and scrutiny that other women and men do not have to essentially endure.”

“You have her face,” noted Dr. AJ on Clark, “along with the faces of Black women. We know that the WNBA at this point is predominantly African American, and so it’s easy to go into that conversation, provide those comparisons and then begin to pit player against player …”

“I think all those things, in many ways, are coming together, are overlapping and are creating a conversation around this sport, around the professionalization of women in this space. I think in many ways this incident can create some challenge, some additional conflict that is taken out of context fully with one incident like this.”

And like a bad old movie, the beat goes on. And the nonsense of Black players being jealous of Clark is just that.

“The racist attacks directed at Black players are reprehensible,” reaffirmed Knox. “Those culture-war talking points. Healthy disagreement has been replaced by performative outrage.”

“We have that racial conversation when we’ve got an individual like a Caitlin Clark that predates even her coming to the league,” surmised Carter-Francique. “The overlap of this race, gender, sexual orientation conversation that is pitting a Black player or a White player versus Black women as a whole.

“I think [Clark] was placed on a pedestal about what she could do for the league that in some ways diminished the efforts and the accolades of the women before her, of even the White women before her, and I think that has created some challenge” for the W, she stressed.

“At the end of the day,” concluded Dr. Akilah, “I believe those women want to play, want to participate without all of the additional commentary.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.