Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Stephen A. Smith Doubles Down On Steve Nash/White Privilege Statement: “I Don’t Give A Damn What Y’all Feel”
When the Brooklyn Nets announced that two-time MVP, Steve Nash will become their new head coach, Stephen A. Smith shared his opinion and was not happy about it.
Smith believes the hiring is a prime example of white privilege:
“This does not happen for a black man. No experience whatsoever? On any level as a coach? And you get the Brooklyn Nets job? I know that Kyrie [Irving] and KD (Kevin Durant) have both signed on this. I know they both support this move. But I’m thinking about a champion that is Ty Lue, passed up. I’m thinking about a guy who built the foundation for the Golden State Warriors in Marc Jackson, passed up. I’m thinking about the years that Sam Cassell has served as an assistant, first in the nation’s capital in D.C. and now with the Los Angeles Clippers, passed up.
It’s for a guy — my guy, one of the best guys you could possibly meet in your life and may do a fantastic job. But a guy that has no experience whatsoever, in these times where we’re making all of this noise about social justice — I got news of y’all. I have said this to people on numerous occasions, right here on this show: Yes, that was the tipping point, George Floyd’s killing, his murder. Violence against black men who are unarmed, all of that stuff is true, but the frustration, the protest and all of these things that you’ve seen in the streets throughout America terminating from the black community and the disenfranchised communities is that proverbial glass ceiling and the fact that it breeds a level of frustration that we can’t even put into words sometimes, you just wanna scream.
Wanna scream to the high heavens, ‘How the hell does this always happen for somebody else other than us? Why do we have to be twice as good to get half as much? Why is it that no matter what we do and how hard we work and how we go through the process and the terrain of everything, somehow, someway, there’s another excuse to ignore that criteria? To ignore those credentials and instead bypass it and make an exception to the rule for someone other than us. So I’m depressed right now because I have to bring that up.”
Smith’s reaction caused a lot of different reactions by former and current players, coaches and sportscasters, with most of them disagreeing with Smith (some were on his side though), especially Charles Barkley.
But after listening to Barkley and other critics who disagree with him, Smith went for round two, doubling down on his previous white privilege statement in a great take.
“I mentioned white privilege yesterday. I have a message to those who feel that I was wrong, that I need to apologize, that I don’t know what I’m talking about, etcetera, etcetera. I don’t give a damn what y’all feel. Y’all can all kick rocks. I don’t give a damn. I’m not budging from my position one inch.”
“My point about white privilege, tell me the Black man that would happen for? No resume whatsoever as a coach, at all. And you get a job of this magnitude. I’m not talking about Derek Fisher, with the sorry New York Knicks at the time. I’m not talking about Jason Kidd, his first era when they were building the Brooklyn Nets squad, I’m not talking about Doc Rivers in Orlando. I’m not talking about those opportunities.
I’m talking about championship ready, and it would be a shock if you don’t win 50 games and you’re not contending for a crown. Black folks with no resume getting a job like that? I have been covering the NBA for 25 years…. brothers do not get those opportunities.”
