The current, openly racist pronouncements against the white, female basketball phenom Caitlin Clark by several left-wing Democrat journalists, commentators and players are reminiscent of what the Democrat Party did to blacks during the Jim Crow years.[1]

Before I get to Ms. Clark, as a legal immigrant of color, who has travelled extensively, let me share some thoughts on racism.

Racism in the world

In India, where I was born, the caste system is at least as vulgar as racism. There’s no hope of changing that in India…ever. Blacks are viewed unfavorably in India. Instead of the “N” word, they use the “K” word—“Kulloo”, a derogatory Hindi term, to refer to Blacks. (In Hindi, ‘kala’ means ‘black’.) The interracial romance between an African-American (Denzel Washington) and an Indian-American (Sarita Choudhury), in the 1991 movie, Mississippi Masala, portrays some of this animosity.

The Indians get a taste of their own stupidity in South Africa where Asian-Indians are treated like outcasts, and where even Blacks refer to them as “Khulis”, the “N” word equivalent of sorts.

In the Middle-East, the Arabs treat the Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalis and Bangladeshis like shit.

The Kafala System of intra-Arab racism and the larger inter-Arab racism is very complicated, and would take several blogs to amplify. It’s interesting to briefly consider the following.

One feature of intra-Arab racism is the long-standing, and sometimes violent, differences between Palestinian Arabs and other Arabs in the Middle-East which no one wants to talk about nowadays. It doesn’t fit the narrative of many in the Democrat Party who like to demonize Israel.

Africans, typically, are the victims of inter-Arab racism. Thousands of deprived Africans (from across Africa), mainly in the Jizan and Jeddah provinces of Saudi Arabia, would caution privileged African-Americans to think twice before they bash America. The latter’s attitude is largely due to the Democrat Party’s motto—divide and hold onto power. A striking example is Al Sharpton who likes to flaunt his pretentious “Reverend” title in the media. There’s nothing remotely venerable about this duplicitous character who injects racism into every issue.

There are similar accounts of racism in every country, but it would take up too much space. The point is racism/discrimination is universal and not just the American varieties that the Democrat Party likes to harp on.

Have I experienced racism in America? Of course. When I was in graduate school, I took a trip to visit a white professor friend of mine in Starkville, Mississippi. I came to a stop in the right lane at a red light. A car pulled up in the left lane; its driver waved at me. I thought he was being friendly, and so I reciprocated. The white man and his buddies yelled, “Go home, Camel Jockey!” They’d assumed I was from the Middle East since I sported a beard in those days; moreover, America was at war in the Middle East at the time. One bloke even got out and spat on my car, before driving off.

My professor friend took me to a restaurant in town for brunch. I was the only non-white in the room where everyone was attired in their Sunday best, probably having just got out of church. The waitress placed dinnerware for my friend but ignored me. My friend was livid and suggested we leave. I grinned and told him, “Watch this.” I strolled to the counter where they had silverware and picked up a set. Then, I started helping myself to the buffet in line with people that didn’t quite know what to make of my presence there. I returned to the table and said, “Let’s see how many of the clientele leave, since I touched the dishes.”

Fast-forward a year or so. I was travelling to LA and had to stop for petrol somewhere near Phoenix around 2 am. Somewhat sleepy, as I exited the station, I inadvertently pulled into the oncoming lane since there was no traffic. Realizing my mistake, I turned sharply in the middle of the road to rectify my error. Out of the darkness, seemingly out of nowhere, three cop cars, with lights ablaze and sirens screaming, converged on me. I pulled into the nearest parking lot, stopped, turned off the engine and waited nervously.

All of them were white officers. A couple had their hands on their weapons out of an abundance of caution. From their perspective, I could’ve been a drug dealer—I surely may have looked the part with my tanned skin and unkempt hair.

One of them tapped on the window. Rolling it down, I said, “Officer, I know why you stopped me. I was driving in the wrong direction. I’m sorry, but I’ve been driving all evening and am a bit tired. I’m a student on my way to LA.” He stepped back, somewhat surprised by my soft-spoken manner and accent which was incongruous with my physical profile. I gave him my papers and license. He went off to confer with his colleagues.

Several minutes later, he returned and gave me back everything. Resting his palms on the window, he smiled and said, “Son, we’re gonna escort you to the interstate entrance so you don’t get lost.” Dumbfounded, I asked, “You’re not giving me a ticket?” He patted my shoulder and said, “No, but drive carefully.”

And sure enough, with their lights flashing, they guided me past a few construction zones until I was westbound toward LA.

For every white, racist person I’ve encountered, I’ve met a 100 non-racist whites that have helped or befriended me. One doesn’t have to travel the world to know that there are intelligent and stupid people, regardless of race, color, or nationality.

The only color that matters is red—the color of blood. That’s why we donate blood. As long as it’s a match, anyone in the world who needs plasma would qualify as a recipient.

Racism against Caitlin Clark

When I see the revolting odium against a 22-year-old, white woman who just graduated from college, it makes me angry and melancholy. Caitlin Clark didn’t do anything to deserve this vituperative barrage of anti-white hatred from several blacks and guilt-ridden white liberals, all of whom, almost surely, belong to the Democrat Party.

The mainstream sports media, which is notoriously left wing, is grumbling about all the attention Clark is receiving and chalking it up to her being white. The reputable journalist Jason Whitlock exposes this racism very effectively.[2] His clairvoyant commentary appears to be vindicated every time Caitlin Clark takes the court.[3]

We’ve seen this movie before. In 1980, when Larry Bird came into the NBA, fresh from his epic battle and loss to Magic Johnson in the NBA finals many thought of him as not the Great White Hope, but the Great White Hype. Never mind his storied college accomplishments. Of course, he and Magic went on to have epic Celtic-Laker battles that essentially saved the NBA and propelled it to a global status. Magic and Larry became bosom buddies. Can’t we all just get along, like Bird and Magic? Like those police officers in Phoenix and me, during our brief encounter?

Famously, Dennis Rodman of the Detroit Pistons made the comment that if Bird were black he’d be regarded as just an average player, not the superstar he was. Isaiah Thomas half-heartedly agreed with his teammate. They were forced to apologize for their ignorance.[4] Amusingly, Bird often complained that teams were disrespecting him when they guarded him with a white guy!

Caitlin Clark’s popularity is not because she is white. I never watched women’s NCAA basketball or the WNBA…until this girl came along. It is because she’s doing things at such a high level in this sport which we’re not used to seeing female athletes do. She shoots and makes three-pointers at such long distances (her “Logo Threes”) even men used to avoid. And she’s making them in clutch and important situations. That’s why Jason Whitlock wisely recognized that this wasn’t going to bode well for this white girl, surrounded mainly by black girls in the WNBA. Besides, Caitlin is heterosexual, unlike most players that are lesbian. We have a perfect “woke-ism” storm brewing in the WNBA.

But Caitlin Clark also has Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s court sense, passing ability, and the clutch gene. Couple that with the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) movement in college sports, and her team’s underdog status…well, that’s quite a story. Her whiteness is irrelevant. We’re simply enamored by her skills not with her race, like we are with Steph Curry, an African American; he, forever, changed men’s basketball by his 3-point shooting ability, despite his short stature compared to other players. His blackness is irrelevant.

Unlike Jason Whitlock, most mainstream sports journalists are hard to follow and respect. On the one hand, they like to apply their “racial accounting” to coaching situations and complain there aren’t enough minority coaches in college or pro basketball (and football). And, in general, they complain that the most desirable job situations in our society are too white, and the racial proportions “don’t look like America”. Yet it is probably the case that professional basketball rosters “don’t look like America”. I don’t really know because I don’t waste my time counting races, but I also notice a fair number of white players in basketball games seated at the end of the bench—back of the bus, if you get my drift—that don’t play much. It’s as if some idiot DEI consultant advised the association, “This is a black sport and we’re going to keep it that way. Whites need not apply.”

That might explain why a lot of these racist journalists are mad at Caitlin Clark. She applied, got in and outperformed every current player, most of them black, in women’s basketball. Is that why the U.S. women’s Olympic basketball committee omit her from the national team for the upcoming games in Paris?

Caitlin Clark’s IT Factor

Perhaps, the most important aspect to Caitlin Clark’s game is the IT factor.

Very few people in any profession have IT. I referred to a lot of famous basketball players earlier. But I doubt anyone would disagree that Michael Jordan elevated the game to heights never before seen. Some would say Bird or Magic were better players, and maybe they were. But what Jordan did for the sport worldwide is immeasurable. Jordan had IT.

How about golf? I, like many others, never watched golf on TV…until a man of mixed race showed up. Tiger Woods single-handedly changed the game not just for golf aficionados, but for novices like me, and millions worldwide, regardless of race, color, nationality, and gender. He sold tickets and made multi-millionaires of future pro golfers. Experts may argue that Arnold Palmer brought in the TV era of golf. But no one would be stupid enough to say that Woods didn’t forever change the game. Tiger had IT. His iconic fist-pumping, victory gesture is the equivalent of Jordan’s ability to fly in the air toward the basket with that damn tongue hanging out.

What Tiger did for golf is precisely what Caitlin Clark is doing for women’s basketball. Her presence is the main attraction. That’s why stadiums sell out when her team is scheduled to play.

Caitlin Clark has IT. And that’s it!

[1] https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/if-we-care-about-institutional-guilt-how-do-democrats-escape-it/
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/jason-whitlock-compares-caitlin-clark-s-situation-with-jackie-robinson-s-wnba-s-jealousy-and-racism-will-destroy-her/ar-BB1nhfXd
[3] https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wnba-upgrades-hard-foul-caitlin-clark-fines-angel-reese-skipping-postgame-interview
[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2020/05/09/how-dennis-rodman-was-forced-to-apologize-to-larry-bird-over-racial-comments-in-1987/?sh=376f8b537d72