The media is responsible for the racist rhetoric around women’s basketball
OPINION: The divisive narrative that frames Caitlin Clark as a white damsel in distress who is under attack by Black women in the WNBA has gotten out of hand.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
I studied mass communication and media studies in college, and I have been obsessed with watching how the media operates and controls society — especially in the United States.
Journalists are supposed to be the “watchdogs” of society. We are here to monitor what is happening and disseminate that information to the public, and, for the most part, that is what journalists have done in this country.
A lot has changed in the age of the 24/7 news cycle, however, and in the race for clicks, eyes and engagement, the line between real journalism and yellow journalism has been so muddled that I sometimes wonder how much longer all of this can last.
Studying media is my kink, and I watch how journalists and media organizations alike play the “media game” and use their platforms for both good and evil.
I have always been particularly fascinated with the way agenda setting, status conferral, narrative and framing play out in modern society. In school, our case examples were the different points of view from which war and conflicts the United States involved itself were reported.
Years from now, journalism students are going to study the way the white male-dominated sports media has used agenda setting, status conferral, and framing to craft a narrative that paints Caitlin Clark as a victim of constant antagonism at the hands of the Black women in the WNBA.
I don’t think I need to give a play-by-play of what has happened so far.
Caitlin Clark finished her time at Iowa and was drafted No. 1 into the WNBA by the Indiana Fever.
She’s not the only rookie who was drafted, and she isn’t even the best rookie in the league right now, but through status conferral, she has been put on a pedestal and elevated to the position of being “the best thing to ever happen to the WNBA,” which is completely unfair to the other women who have worked hard in the league before she got there and continue to work hard in the league now that she’s here.
Status conferral is when the media decides that one person or one thing is more important than everything and everyone else. They will keep beating us over the head with news and stories about that person or thing until we are all tired of hearing it.
I’m tired of hearing about Caitlin Clark.
I’m tired of hearing about Caitlin Clark, and it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s white, but the framing of the narrative around her — a narrative created by white, male-dominated sports media that is being swallowed whole and regurgitated by legacy media on a daily basis — is that everyone is against her because she’s a white girl who came into the W and “took over,” and all the Black women are jealous of her.
Sports
Please. BFFR.
It doesn’t take much to work the white racists in this country into a lather. All you have to do is put “Black” and “white” in a sentence together, and they are all foaming at the mouths to yell at Black people, call us racist, and tell us everything is our fault.
Agenda setting is the idea that the media controls not only what people pay attention to, but how they think about it as well. Sensationalizing a story, giving the most salacious details about something, or constantly talking about the same thing over and over again confers status on that person or thing and guides the way the general public views and perceives it.
White media is doing that with Caitlin Clark.
When we say we are tired of hearing about her, we know it has nothing to do with her being white and everything to do with the fact that she’s being shoved down our throats in such an aggressive way, it’s a wonder we aren’t all walking around constantly gagging.
The white media is obsessed with her, however, because she is their “great white hope,” and in order to keep her name in the headlines, they have to create a narrative (or storyline) that they can keep going for as long as they have to so she can be the daily topic.
In a post-George Floyd America, that narrative is one that is divisive and racist.
Caitlin Clark isn’t being handled any differently than any other basketball player in her league. It’s basketball. It’s a fast and physical sport. Sometimes people get knocked down. Sometimes people get fouled.
Have you ever watched Draymond Green play? He’s a bully on the court. When have you ever seen him having to answer repeated questions about the same foul over and over again after a game?
This is what happens when Caitlin Clark goes up against a Black woman defender, however. If a Black woman in the WNBA even lightly touches Caitlin Clark, it suddenly becomes a constant topic of discussion, and the players — like Angel Reese and Chennedy Carter — find themselves having to answer question after question about something that happens quite regularly in basketball.
Caitlin Clark herself has fouled people and knocked people down, but when she does it, she’s a great athlete just playing the game. She never has to answer questions about it or have to see it dissected over and over again by writers and talking heads alike.
When a Black player does it to her, we get editorials by big city newspapers calling for the Black player to be charged with assault. We get racist white people all over social media camping out and waiting for the opportunity to attack any Black person who dares to mention her.
We get Fox News calling Caitlin Clark the “Jackie Robinson of the WNBA” because she was fouled by her college basketball rival, Angel Reese.
To be fair, it isn’t just white media doing this. We watched Shannon Sharpe and Stephen A. Smith — two Black men who should know better — spend the better part of two weeks talking over Black women who play basketball and know their sport inside and out, all so they could cape for Caitlin Clark.
It’s disgusting.
One of the basic ethical tenets of journalism is to “do no harm.”
This media narrative about Caitlin Clark is harmful. It’s harmful to the WNBA. It’s harmful to Black women like Angel Reese and Chennedy CaKrter and any other Black woman who has to guard Clark or play against her in a game.
The media has a responsibility to the public, and that responsibility is being shirked in deference to uplifting a white woman and pretending she is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Caitlin Clark is doing well for a rookie, but she’s not the best rookie. She’s not even the best white rookie. Kate Martin would like a word.
In its ranking of WNBA rookies in the first month of the 2024 season, ESPN has Caitlin Clark ranked as No. 6. Cameron Brink is No. 1, followed by Angel Reese at No. 2. Kate Martin is No. 3.
I don’t mention this to discredit Caitlin Clark; I share it to prove a point. Caitlin Clark is good, but she’s not the best, and the idea that she is “intimidating” the Black women in the league is a Stretch Armstrong-level reach.
This narrative has been in the slow cooker since Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark faced each other in the NCAA championship.
White people have been waiting to get their lick back for that loss, and they view this as their golden opportunity.
White journalists and racist white people have made it so incredibly unbearable to be on social media in any space where basketball is being discussed.
They don’t even care about the sport; they only care about having a way to dunk on Black women — pun fully intended.
The energy is frenetic and frantic at this point, and it’s completely out of hand.
White racists find any and every opportunity to attack Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter, and every other Black woman in the W who they view as a threat to their white princess, and it doesn’t stop there.
You can’t be a Black person who mentions Caitlin Clark online without getting attacked for it, especially if you are a Black woman. Ask me how I know.
I recently tweeted “I am very tired of hearing that girl’s name.” I didn’t even specify who I was talking about, but you can click through the tweet and see the responses I got.
Similarly, when I questioned the idea that Clark has “pretty privilege,” the racists came out in full force to attack me. I didn’t call her ugly. I didn’t say anything negative about her. I simply questioned the use of the phrase “pretty privilege” in reference to her, and white people lost it.
I’m just a writer talking on Twitter.
Imagine what the Black women in the WNBA are facing during this timeline.
The media narrative around Caitlin Clark is dangerous to Angel Reese and every other Black woman in the WNBA, and at the rate it’s going, someone is going to end up hurt, and the media will be entirely complicit in that.
Caitlin Clark recently denounced the use of her name in the obvious race-baiting media storm that’s happening right now, and my personal opinion is that her statement was weak AF, and she only did it after being called out by Dijonai Carrington.
Caitlin Clark is the epitome of white privilege — specifically the privilege of being a white woman in America.
She can easily overlook everything that is happening because it doesn’t negatively impact her; she benefits from it, and she has the level of privilege to not have to openly acknowledge it because no matter what, they racist white people are going to defend their “queen.”
If Caitlin is not going to speak up, someone else white needs to. A lot of white people need to speak out and call this b.s. out for what it is.
This week, the white people are foaming at the mouth because Angel fouled Caitlin during their matchup last Sunday.
The media is playing its part by hyping it up into something it really isn’t, and if you look at the Angel Reese trending topic on Twitter, you get a very concerning view of what that type of narrative and framing does to an unintelligent, rabidly racist “fanbase.”
We can’t even really call them fans because they don’t care about basketball; they just care about belittling and disrespecting Black women in the name of a white girl.
It’s a tale as old as time.
White fragility leads to white violence.
Let’s pray none of the Black women who have been unwillingly thrust into this situation end up hurt.
Monique Judge is a storyteller, content creator and writer living in Los Angeles. She is a word nerd who is a fan of the Oxford comma, spends way too much time on Twitter, and has more graphic t-shirts than you. Follow her on Twitter @thejournalista or check her out at thejournalista.com
