I’m doing a #Doctoraldissertation on #Neoliberalism #power #privilege & #racism. One of my #research topics is on #kyrieirvine: Kyrie Irving is the embodiment and vilification of his “duppies” realization of #individualism and the new #blackpeopleresistance. I’d like to study the brother using #ethnographic research methods….
Recently, Kyrie stated that he will not get vaccinated which has caused the Brooklyn Nets to deny his ability to play in the upcoming NBA season. Kyrie is one of the best players in the NBA and it can be said that Brooklyn Nets cannot win without him.
Stephen A Smith on his radio show First Take has raged against Kyrie as being stupid and selfish. Yet Kyrie has argued that he is being the “voice for the voiceless.”
I thought about it carefully and came to realize that Kyrie is embodying what black scholars are writing about. Berry and Hilde and other black historians and academics have written a number of recent books that reimagine black people as a way to reinvent black humanity. We see black resistance as resilience throughout slavery and beyond. The ways in which black people have resisted their enslavement have evolved from the 1600s to now. And we can study various slaves accounts leading up to their descendants to today such as Kyrie Irvine and see the patterns of resistance but notice the changing dynamic of this resistance.
This recent NBA news regarding Kyrie’s defiance is worth exploring. I have tweeted in response to the pundits’ denouncements of Kyrie saying: You cannot say that the organization has requirements. When Kyrie Irving signed with @BrooklynNets it never included any #covid mandates. It is the #Nets that has changed the contractual arrangements between them; Kyrie has every right to not play.
In fact, is to understand Kyrie’s decision one must understand that Kyrie Irving is anti-institutional. He believes in individual rights & to get vaccinated betrays that individualism & masculinity that has been denied. I respect his decision. When he signed on @BrooklynNets there was no #covid his contract never included mandates.
Hopefully I can get an opportunity to meet with kyrie….