NBA Basketball player Draymond Green earns 16.7 million dollars a year. The guys who pay him that much are Joseph S. Lacob, and Peter Guber. His employers also own the team for which he plays, but Draymond doesn’t think they should be called “owners” because of slavery.
“You shouldn’t say owner,” Green said at the time. Green added that owners should be called CEOs or majority shareholder, or some other term because it was insensitive to say a white man owns the labor of black men.
Draymond is confused. They do not own his labor or his person. They rent it, on his terms. He and a team agreed on this arrangement of mutual benefit. He plays a game wearing their jersey (quite well, I might add) for which they give him 17 million dollars a year; plus facilities, personal trainers, medical staff, transportation, and I’m sure a few other perks, poor baby.
And he can leave whenever the hell he wants per the terms of the contract he signed.
But It’s Not Just “Owners”
Since he brought it up what about the hotels he stays at or the restaurants at which he eats? Don’t they have owners and gasp! Minority employees? Perhaps the word owner needs to be scrubbed from the lexicon.
And while we’re at it, “cracker” must go too. No more crackers, especially if the company that makes them has owners.
And ship. Because if owners is a bad word because ‘Slave Owners’ then ship is bad because “Slave ship.”
Excuse me, he says to the restaurant owner, were these crackers delivered by ship? (You racist!)
I could do this all day.
Draymond clearly didn’t think it through. And neither did the NBA.
“We call our team owners ‘Governor of the team’ and ‘alternate Governor,’” (NBA Commissioner Adam) Silver added. “I’m sensitive to it, and I think to the extent teams are moving away from the term, we’ll stick with using Governor.”
Governor? Seriously?
So, no governor ever kept slaves? Well, actually they did! South Carolina Governor William Aiken Jr. had slaves. So, did Governors, William Wyatt Bibb, Shadrach Bond, William Clark, Howell Cobb, Edward Coles, Alfred H. Colquitt, George W. Crawford, and about twenty others, governor.
Now what? We have to get rid of kept too because ” they kept slaves.”
Options?
Draymond suggested CEO or Majority shareholder, or something along those lines and those are okay, but I bet there’s a long list of Democrat’s from American history with those titles who owned slaves as well. (Any thoughts about getting rid of ‘Democrat’?)
How about calling them ‘My Employer’ (even if they ship crackers)? Because that’s all he is, and only because he (or they) own the business that generates the revenue from which you are paid your paltry Diva wage.
And while there are plenty of well-paid NBA stars not everyone agrees with Draymond on this issue.
(NBA Commissioner Adam) Silver admitted that some players have spoken up inside the league and said that the term “owner” is not a problem for them. He even noted that when Michael Jordan was able to call himself an owner, it was “the greatest thing that ever happened.”
I’m happy to hear that. They should ask Draymond – who probably owns lots of things – what the people he employs call him? Folks who accomplish day-to-day tasks so he can focus on earning more money for Draymond and his family. All while managing to make time to find racism in certain everyday words but not others.
It could be that Mr. Green has too much time on his well-paid and talented hands. Or, it could be something else. But whatever it is, it makes no sense, and the NBA is playing along.
Image: Investors.com
