Month: November 2020

While reading the article “A Legacy of Incoherence” by Amira Rose Davis, my jaw dropped when the author explains how Kobe Bryant raped a 19-year-old woman in 2003. Before reading this article, I did not even know the events that occurred. I was left wondering why I never heard of it. I wonder if it was because I was so young in 2003, as the events unfolded. Then I began to consider if it was just swept under the rug because Kobe was one of the biggest basketball stars of all time. Another portion of this article that stood out to me was that when Kobe retired from basketball it was not considered the time to talk about the rape case. The reasoning behind it was because it was meant to be a time of celebration. I disagree with this idea. Even though Kobe should be celebrated for his success in basketball, the woman he raped does not get to pick and choose when she thinks about the events. Instead, she is likely plagued with trauma every day. Why should Kobe be given the luxury to refuse to talk about it or think about it? Another piece of information presented in this article that I was unaware of was that Black Mamba was created as a direct response to the sexual assault case. Since I did not know this information, I wonder if those who posted about the Black Mamba on social media in the aftermath of his death knew this. 

“Earlier this week, on the side of a building in Austin, Texas, an artist painted a mural in remembrance of Bryant. That same night, someone added the word “rapist” next to his face. Almost as soon as it appeared, it vanished. Painted over. Muted. A glimpse of the legacy Bryant leaves behind.”

After reading this article I started to see the bigger picture on this topic. It is not right to focus entirely on someone’s faults during their commemoration but it is also true that we must not purposely ignore the unjust things people did in their lifetime. Obviously, when people think of Kobe, they think of one of the all time greats in the sport of basketball and it is truly terrible how his life ended and that if we can learn anything from this incident, it is that we should really live the moment and enjoy the time we have with people in the present. I know this is broad, but no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. No one is ignoring what Kobe did but defaming a mural of remembrance for a person who inspired so many with one of the faults of his past is completely unnecessary and inappropriate. We have to ask ourselves what kind of people or society we are as a whole if we cannot get over the imperfections of a person’s past and look at that person’s life achievements with an honest heart. The actions of the individual who wrote over the mural with the word ” rapist ” are nothing more than those of a troll and someone who is too insecure with themselves that they must focus on the most negative aspects of a person who inspires so many people. You can do so many great things in your life and still be remembered as a shameful figure by many narrow-minded people. At the end of the day a person’s legacy must not be torn into for its faults and has to be greatly appreciated for how it has changed the world for the better.

Disclaimer: I might be missing the point here.

Unlike many others at the time of Kobe Bryant’s death, Amira Rose Davis writes off the darker side of his legacy: his rape allegation and how it was swept under the rug. Of which, I think Davis makes a great point by doing so. In her piece, she writes, “Winning seems to absolve many things. So does money.” And as someone who has never been a big basketball fan, the extent of my knowledge only tells me that Kobe was a basketball player. Unsurprisingly, his rape allegation and charges were left unknown to me. For people with a public image and brand, any accusations would appear as a PR nightmare. They want to settle it as quickly and quietly as possible while appeasing their fans. Well, as it turns out, that’s pretty much what happened. The charges were dropped, and Kobe went back to his day. For most, this bump in the superstars journey was already part of the past and to be forgotten. However to others, this wasn’t the case. When an artist painted a mural in honor of Bryant, someone overnight added the words “rapist” next to it. As quickly as the words were added, they were painted over. To this, Davis makes the point that the faults in our idols are often smooth over and buried. They are memorialized in a way that almost gives them an untouchable status even after death.

But while I agree and understand Davis’s argument here, I can also see why the opposite would think otherwise. It’s never easy to think of your hero as someone you thought them not to be. It was no different for his mourning family, friends and fans. If someone were to tell me that my dad was an alcoholic that once beaten a woman in drunken stupor, I would be shocked and in disbelief. If my dad were to pass away the next day, do I exactly want to tell everyone of my dad’s dastardly deed? It’s not to say that the truth shouldn’t be allowed to exist, but there’s more at hand here than just this. To me, my dad was a person who I could rely on. Someone I can trust and someone who loved me. When I would write his eulogy, I think it would do him injustice to write of his faults. Because I remembered my dad as a good person, and that I know he is a good person. I don’t think it’s fair to sum up his life’s achievement as an assaulter. So in Kobe’s case, I think it’s premature to write him off as wicked without truly knowing him. His victim’s grievances may never be fully addressed in the lieu of his death, but it will forever remain as a dark mark on his legacy for sure. Because to the greater and unattached population, it’s easier to remember his good and bad.

 

“This is when we were told to move on. When Bryant retired from basketball, it was seen as “not the time” to talk about the rape case because it was a moment of celebration. It would never actually become the right time, which is a lesson you will learn repeatedly when trying to talk about sexual violence”.

This quote stood out to me because another instance of this that I immediately thought of was the Cristiano Ronaldo case, which was actually mentioned as I continued reading this article. It really is a tricky scenario when rape accusations come to sports stars, or celebrities in general, because they have so much at stake; their credibility, their revenue streams, and personal life, and will try to do anything to  resolve the issue without making as much noise as possible. And because of the amount of wealth that they have amassed, these celebrities can afford to settle these accusations in court and eventually nothing ever comes out of it again. In regards to “the time” to talk about the issue, I don’t think that can ever be possible because these celebrities will always have so many entities and groups behind them that will try and silence the matter. Of course, people won’t forget and can bring it up whenever they please, but a whole lot of other people will point out that a certain star wasn’t proved guilty and eventually settled in court with the accuser. Thats another big problem when it comes to situations like these, the word accuser. It’s really hard to be given credibility when you’re alone and are faced with plenty of backlash in regards to the validity of your case. And the fact that such matters have no concrete evidence and is only first hand experience, it just really complicates matters.

Lastly in regards to Kobe’s situation, he will always be considered as one the best to ever do it, but there is a blemish in his career that one can’t simply ignore. Of course, not everyone is perfect and he has changed as seen through his personal life and outside works that he has done off the court. However, the “time” to bring it up is not now because he has lived his life and everyone was or still is grieving or celebrating his life. However, cases like these should be analyzed and talked about when other celebrities or sports stars face similar issues so that justice can truly be served properly.

This quote really stuck out to me because of the truthfulness it holds. When women come forward about their stories regarding the sexual harassment they faced, they are often immediately discouraged by others to take it to court. Society tends to focus more on the aftermath of the harasser’s life rather than the victim’s. Back in June, a large group of young women, who I’ve met through my high school career, came forward with their stories of sexual assault and how the people around them reacted. Many spoke about how they didn’t speak about it until much later on because they didn’t feel like it was the “right time”. A large portion also wrote about how their parents wouldn’t want them to go to court because it wasn’t the “right time” and that their family’s reputation would be ruined. Sexual assault has been so stigmatized in our society that the victim is more prevalently blamed, than the actual harasser.

One of the things that struck me in this article was how much a person can impact the world. Kobe Bryant was one of the best basketball players of all time and the article talks about all the different aspects of his career. “Here were Mamba Shoes, the Mamba Foundation, a partnership with Nike to launch the Mamba League. And then, of course, there was the Mamba Sports Academy, which featured the Mamba team that Bryant coached with Christine Mauser.”Giving back is a very important part in the world today ands Kobe Bryant did just that. He made sure everyone was involved is someway. Although most people think of Kobe Bryant as a generational basketball talent, he is much more than that. He knew that success was important, but legacy was even more important.

“He was the star you knew, on ESPN, in GQ, on Showtime, but there was also that other thing—a matter to be addressed and quickly moved past. ”

This quote sparked me, for a good reason. Kobe Bryant was an All-Time Basketball Star whom had a significant impact in the basketball world. His passing is tragic, with individuals all over the world mourning the loss of the legend, remembering all the good he did. However, as stated in the article, he did commit a rape crime against a woman, but that has been long forgotten. He is remembered as a basketball legend, and not a rapist, and that really should apply to individuals out there, regardless of fame. People can change over time, and not all criminals have evil intentions. We need to see the good side in all criminals, and not assume each criminal is definitely evil. After all, their positive side may outshine then dark negativity, just like for Kobe.

“This statement is remarkable in that we so rarely see anything approaching this level of public accountability in these cases, but the fact that it’s an anomaly is a testament to how low the bar really is.”

Though the situations themselves can hardly be equated, the direction for a remedial response in the case of injustice is much the same for many instances of sexual assault as it is in reparations for African-Americans. Both come down to offenders upholding their end of a social contract and being accountable for their actions.

Amira Davis in a way makes the same case as Coates. They both identify transgressions in society that have not received the adequate responses and recompense, and call for accountability. Considering this, I’m inclined to take make a similar observation for the case of sexual abusers as I did for reparations. Society simply cannot move towards a better future for everyone if it excludes its victims from receiving full benefits as human beings; a status only accomplished with the recognition of wrongdoings, the specific statement of wrongs and the process of healing and reconciliation for victims.

Davis explains that this isn’t being done, and that because so many abusers (especially ones in positions of power) are not held responsible for their actions, the ambiguous and incomplete response made by Kobe that was nearly on track to accountability, is ultimately harmful because it sets a lightweight, simple precedent for for future responses of culpability that must be substantial and complex.

 

*Trigger Warning: Content mentions R*** and Sexual Assault*

 

The painstaking decision of enacting cancel culture upon our idols, while a morally just choice in honoring the testimonies of those who experience injustice, can nonetheless feel like the disappointment of a lifetime. However, after the #MeToo Movement in the Fall of 2017, we quickly replaced a litany of Hollywood actors, directors, newscasters, and media figureheads, with entertainers and presenters of the same caliber. When I see “we” I am solely referring to the collective experience of White America, a country with a deep roster when it comes to the potential for individual heroism. However, for non-white Americans, heroism is a constrained and tightly regulated phenomena where Idols are far and few, and are required to reign supreme in their respective discipline or profession for decades at a time. In this sense, non-white idols are irreplaceable because they cannot simply be substituted in the same manner.

Take Barack Obama for example. If I were to ask you who your favorite black president was, you would only be able to come up with one truthful answer. This is obviously because there has been only one black president.  Now let’s theorize that Obama was to do something so horrible that he would have to resign from the presidency, giving up his public image and near-immortal status. In catering to the needs of non-white America, would we be able to replace Obama with a black man of similar status? Looking at Obama’s presidency, his legal replacement would be Joe Biden, who’s replacement would be Nancy Pelosi. Diving further down this rabbit hole, another black man would not be considered unless all (presidentially eligible) members of congress and the supreme court were to pass away save Clarence Thomas. Even so, Thomas himself has been accused of gross sexual misconduct, and has historically served as the antithesis of black society, so this would not be a viable solution.

We can now begin to understand that black idols are scare, and that cancel culture carries a double burden for those non-white members of American Society. Reverting back to Kobe Bryant and Davis’s article, I want to speak to a resounding truth about athletics in America. Athletics has historically served as a first step in desegregating society. In many southern states where district officials were weary over the newly enforced mandates of Brown V. Board of Ed., it wasn’t the empathetic sentiment of the South that sought to integrate black students into white schools, but rather the fact that a given school’s football team would greatly improve with integration. Further down the road, when the education system atrociously began to kill of art departments, theatre programs, and afterschool activities in inner city schools, there was always a basketball team waiting to take on socio-economically disadvantaged kids who had been denied access to all other viable alternatives.

As we can clearly see, the perceived potential of non-white children in America is restricted to realm of athletics. In this sense, Kobe Bryant is not just situated at the crux of the NBA, but at the crux of black potential within America. It is also in this sense, that his loss, both physically and reputation-wise, is a double blind for black citizens who once looked to basketball phenom for inspiration.

In terms of wrong doing and restorative justice, there is no harm mentioned in this piece of writing that is greater than the act of r**e, as was committed by Bryant. R**e is never ok. Non-Consensual sex is r**e. Making scripted responses to the charge of r**e that reads more like an athlete making a routine media appearance after losing a regular season game…is also not ok.

However, there is also harm done when a black icon is deemed “irreplaceable”. Let’s look at why. Had there been more black men, in a variety of professions and disciplines, to take the place of Kobe Bryant, non-white America would not have to struggle as much with cancelling out bad apples. Furthermore, we wouldn’t have to pit an icon of black resistance against the impending tide of new-age feminism, both of which are great in tandem and by themselves. Because of a lack of replacement, people hold onto their beloved #10 for dear life, and even fight against the feminist doctrines that say non-consensual sex is not ok. In this sense, the lack of a replacement creates infighting, pitting two positive lines of thinking against one another.

So, while my answer is clearly to cancel out Bryant for his gross misconduct, we should also have ready and viable sources of inspiration available at all times. Furthermore, and despite my long history with athletics (I wanted to be a professional baseball player), we need the kinds of reinforcements who will both inspire and fire on all cylinders. We need black artists, authors, architects, executives and other members of society who reframe what possibility looks like to the underprivileged. We need to deviate from leaving in the majority of black icons within the realm of athletics, a realm that breeds toxic masculinity, and other societal cancers that kids should not be exposed too. We don’t need the next Kobe Bryant, we need a Black Einstein, a Black Hemmingway, a Black Babe Ruth, and Black George Washington, ready to become the object of a disadvantaged youth’s desires when called upon to do so.