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A few years back William C. Rhoden wrote a book titled "40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete" . Why I have not read the book yet is a very good question. I like Mr. Rhoden and I think that he offers very poignant and insightful commentary on today’s sporting world.
I think the main reason I didn’t rush out to get the book was because I’m sure I already knew what the ebb and flow of the book would be without even having to read it. I spent several years as a sportswriter and sports editor at newspapers in North Carolina and like most other blacks who covered sports for a living, there are perspectives and unwritten nuances of sports that we understand even when we don’t speak about them.
As U.S. Presidential candidate Barak Obama has our nation on the precipice of a possible historic milestone in the history of our republic, issues of race and racism have been thrust back into the public psyche.
This week there have been dozens of articles and probably thousands of blogs written about NBA commissioner David Stern’s inference that he would like to see the NBA’s age limit raised to 20 years old. This news, of course, has brought on a slew of opinions and arguments as to whether or not the age limit issue in professional basketball has motivations that include discrimination toward young black males, who make up the majority of the players in the league.
While it’s true that NBA players make more money than any ten current readers of my blog combined, Rhoden was insinuating that just because you have money doesn’t mean that you’ve escaped the plantation mentality and you may be forced even more to recognize the pecking order of society than the guy working at McDonald’s who can at least up and leave for Burger King if he wants to. Of course the majority of the comments I’ll receive will be some variation of ‘puh-lease those guys are multimillionaires’, but understand this, if your boss is paying you 10 dollars an hour, it’s because he’s making 20 dollars an hour off of your labor.

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