A blatant Case of Racism!

Oh, my gosh! Can you believe that here in the 21st century we are still having to deal with overt racism? You ask what happened? Were minorities denied service at a restaurant? Did a white male get a job with the fire department? No, something much more egregious than that. Millionaire basketball players were told to dress professionally when they come to games.

The NBA has announced that a dress code will go into effect at the start of the season. Players will be required to wear business-casual attire when involved in team or league business. They can't wear visible chains, pendants or medallions over their clothes.

Indiana guard Stephen Jackson believes the NBA's new ban on bling-bling is racially motivated. Jackson, who is black, said the NBA's new rule about jewelry targets young black males because chains are associated with hip-hop culture, and he said the league is afraid of becoming "too hip-hop." In protest, he wore four chains to the Pacers' exhibition game against San Antonio on Tuesday night.

Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce agreed that the new rule targeted young, black players. "When I saw the part about chains, hip hop and throwback jerseys, I think that's part of our culture," Pierce said. "The NBA is young black males."

Pierce may be right that the league is predominantly comprised of "young black males." However, that isn't where the league gets the money to pay the players millions of dollars. Whether the players like it or not the league gets the money to pay players from corporate sponsors who pay for the advertising and people who are at least upper-middle class who buy the ridiculously high priced tickets. Players may not understand this but some corporations may not want to be associated with the criminal image the NBA has been projecting the last few years. Bottom line is if the players want billionaires to make them millionaires they have to do what the billionaires say. If they don't want to dress like their boss tells them to then they can quit and go home. The help at Home Depot may not like wearing the orange vests but they wear the vest or they go home.

This isn't racism it's agism. They want the players to act like grown ups and dress like grown ups.