It’s been a bad couple of days for the racists and bigots who thought Caitlin Clark was one of them.
First Clark said she recognizes there is an element of white privilege to her stardom, that the Black women who laid the foundation for this current explosion in interest in women’s sports were never afforded a spotlight as bright and intense as the one that shines on her. Then, when conservative crank Megyn Kelly criticized her for saying that, Clark doubled down.
“I feel like I’ve earned every single thing that’s happened to me over the course of my career. But also, I grew up a fan of this league from a very young age,” Clark said Wednesday when asked about Kelly’s comments.
“My favorite player was Maya Moore. I know what this league was about.”
For those unaware, Moore was transcendent when she was running roughshod over the WNBA, leading the Minnesota Lynx to four titles in seven years and winning MVP honors in both the regular season (2014) and WNBA Finals (2013). Add in her Olympic gold medals and her titles and player of the year honors at UConn, and she’s quite possibly the best there’s ever been.
But Moore’s impact went beyond the court as a cornerstone of the WNBA’s social justice efforts. She and the Lynx were among the first athletes to protest the racist policing of Black and brown people, and she retired early to work on reversing the wrongful conviction of the man who is now her husband.
Clark has talked often of the influence Moore had on her, and it is clear she didn’t just mean on the court.
“Like I said, (the WNBA) has only been around 25-plus years. I know there’s been so many amazing Black women that have been in this league, and continuing to uplift them I think is very important. That’s something I’m very aware of,” Clark told Maria Taylor during an interview at the “A Year in TIME” event. Clark was the magazine’s athlete of the year.
Few athletes, especially at a young age, can be as thoughtful or as direct as LeBron James and the U.S. women’s national soccer team in calling out hate and the marginalization of minorities. That seemed during the season to include Clark, whose criticism of the racism and homophobia spewed at other WNBA players by some people claiming to be her fans often came only when she was asked directly about it.
But if those lowlifes, like the woman who wrote Clark’s number on the paper talons she wore to a playoff game to mock Black players, thought they had Clark’s tacit approval, they are now seeing just how wrong they are. So, too, those who thought Clark was too naïve to understand why what was being done and said in her name was so problematic.
She saw it. All of it. And she wants no part of it.
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” Clark told TIME in the player of the year story. “A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them. The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important.
“I have to continue to try to change that,” she added. “The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.”
This isn’t “self-flagellation,” as Kelly sneered. This isn’t “condescending” or “fake.” This is a young woman recognizing that while, yes, she’s worked her ass off to get where she is and deserves every bit of the spotlight she commands, she is also the beneficiary of an American society that continues to give white people primacy.
People like Kelly, and unfortunately there are many like her these days, seem to think it’s a character flaw to acknowledge that. That if they recognize privilege exists, it means they aren’t deserving of what they’ve accomplished. That if they say privilege is real, they aren’t as exceptional as they think.
Which very well could be true!
But privilege is simply the recognition that if you are white, male or appear to be cisgender, society unconsciously gives you a head start. It is why a white person can walk into a store and be greeted with a smile and a Black person gets followed around. It is why a man is assumed to be capable of doing a job and a woman is deemed to be unqualified no matter what her resume says. It is why someone who appears to be straight can live their life without judgment while someone who is gay or transgender has their body and personal life policed.
It is why a straight, white woman who can knock down logo 3s at will is celebrated and Black women who are equally talented and charismatic play in the shadows. Particularly Black women who are also LGBTQ.
Women’s basketball is already better for Caitlin Clark. Her comments this week are an indication the world will be, too. While that might outrage Kelly and some other of her so-called fans, it will do Moore proud.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
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