Kyrie Irving is in the news again. But this time, it’s not about vaccinations against COVID. He is being accused by the Jewish community as promoting Antisemitism stemming from a video, he published on his personal social media page containing an external and independent film which seems to suggest antisemitism. Kyrie Irving issued an apology and met with the press today for a press conference to explain his actions and whether he was antisemitic. However, Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA did not accept the apology calling it unqualified. Nevertheless, Kyrie Irving was defiant and would only say that he was at fault for posting a documentary film which contained some falsehoods and that he was not antisemitic but that he and his people have been mistreated and told that they were nothing. Yet society has not offered any worthy apology and they continue their de’ jure and De’ facto racism that is present even today.
The reporters pressed him for an apology, asking him repeatedly whether or not he was sorry for causing hurt to the Jewish community. However, he would not acquiesce and pointed out that just because he posted the video doesn’t mean that he is antisemitic. The video he posted suggested that Black peoples were the real Jewish people whose identity was stolen from them by White people. The documentary film also asserted that some white people took over the name Jewish and stole the original Jews name. However, this idea is not new, because if you read Karl Marx “Das Capital”, he refers to how classes and peoples through violence accumulate capital by going on the land of another group and stealing their property, such as in the 14th century where serfdom was replaced by the wealthy free peasant who became the feudal Lord (See Karl Marx, Das Kapital Volume 1, Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I – Chapter Twenty-Seven (marxists.org) However, Karl Marx and many Marxists in America never had to apologize for this theory, although it was unpopular. We were told that Obama was born in Africa, but where is the apology for this falsity. on January 6 a group incited an insurrection, engineered by a few strategists of the status quo, yet they are still in power or planning on running for office again. On the other hand, the Black man cannot have an unpopular opinion without a backlash even from his own peers trying to appease the status quo.
Therefore, we must not expect anything more from Kyrie, as just as he held out on COVID, he will on this one because he is the vilification of his duppies (past/ancestors). In retrospect, so as to put Kyrie’s actions into more perspective, I had written a quick blog some time ago saying that I was doing a Doctoral dissertation on #Neoliberalism #power #privilege & #racism. One of my #research topics is on Kyrie Irving: Kyrie Irving is the embodiment and vilification of his “duppies” realization of #individualism and the new black people resistance. I’d like to study the brother using ethnographic research methods….
Moreover, last year October, prior to the start of the NBA Basketball regular season, Kyrie stated that he would not get vaccinated, which had caused the Brooklyn Nets to deny his ability to play in the upcoming NBA season in home games due to the State mandate (See the Story in The Neoliberal Commentary, (99+) Re-Inventing and Re-Imagining the Black Image. | LinkedIn). Kyrie is one of the best players in the NBA and it can be said that Brooklyn Nets could not win without him. In his reply, Stephen A. Smith, on his TV show “First Take” raved against Kyrie as being stupid and selfish. Yet Kyrie has argued that he is being the “voice for the voiceless.” But to be fair, one may conclude 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. So, to understand Kyrie’s decision-making and positions of defiance, one must understand that Kyrie Irving is anti-institutional. He believes in individual rights and to get vaccinated or to apology for an unpopular opinion when others have been able to express their opinions no matter how crazy betrays that individualism and masculinity that has been denied. Therefore, in this respect, it can be understood and argued that Kyrie is being the vilification of his duppies (past) who through passive or active resistance they worked to realize their internal value and assert some sense of individuality or masculinity or motherhood that they were not allowed to have. Their life was valuable only as livestock and at times had to do the extreme to maintain their sense of family lineage and individuality and all that comes with it.
Therefore, when you see Kyrie Irving exhibiting that resistance and defiance against taking the vaccine, that is a victory for him and people who historically were not allowed to resist or to demonstrate individualism or authority. In addition, Science was a useful tool used to maintain and to justify Black and Brown peoples’ treatment as slaves and lack of the individual or the human and all that comes with it. But here he is, Kyrie, able to punctuate that authority and that is a victory and provides catharsis and realizes real and continued freedom. So, if that’s what a hero is, then surely, Kyrie is. That is what counts for working towards healing and dealing with unresolved issues of the past which continues to dog humanity and society for we have continued to promote race through various conditioning applications in our society. As such, if society should continue to promote this pseudoscience idea of race which connects to an unforgivable and painful past, why wouldn’t Kyrie not want to resist!
News Update: The Brooklyn Nets have suspended Kyrie Irving from five games without pay for not disavowing antisemitism. However, Kyrie has maintained that he does not hate Jews nor is he antisemitic. However, by not apologizing, in the way that the NBA wants him to apologize, he is being branded as antisemitic by the NBA.
Additional Reference: McKenzie, Renaldo. Neoliberalism, Globalization, Income Inequality, Poverty and Resistance. SC, Palmetto. April 2021.
This article was discussed on The Neoliberal Round Podcast, now available on the audible, Amazon Music, I-Heart Radio, Podvine, Google Podcast, Radio Public, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Anchor.FM, etc.
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