RADIO – The issue of race in sports is central in both the NFL and the NBA. This week on the Edge of Sports, Dave Zirin talks with author David J. Leonard, associate professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University.
Leonard is author of Commodified and Criminalized: New Racism and African Americans in Contemporary Sports, published in 2010, as well as his new book After Artest: the NBA and the Assault on Blackness, which is coming out in the spring of next year.
After Artest deals with the changing NBA policies after the Pacers-Pistons Brawl (also known as the “Malice at the Palace”), the infamous brawl that broke out at The Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004. The fight started when an intoxicated fan threw a drink from the stands at Pacers’ forward Ron Artest while there was a fight on the court. Artest entered the stands to go after the fan, and the ensuing altercation involving both players and fans led to suspensions, fines and assault charges, and ultimately to significant changes in NBA policy.
Leonard and Zirin discuss how this event changed the view of the NBA towards their players, and changed how they addressed racial and cultural differences within the sport.
Leonard’s previous book, Commodified and Criminalized, examines the centrality of sports in discussions of racial ideologies and practices, and discusses athletes ranging from Tiger Woods and Serena Williams to Freddy Adu and Shani Davis.
