A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome.
The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.
"Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.
Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has publicly expressed his support for minor league teams in the past, said he would not do the same for this team.
"As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta," he said. "However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city."
Clint Bryant, athletic director at Augusta State University, laughed when he heard the news.
"It's so absurd, it's funny, but it gives you an idea of the sickness of our society" he said. "It shows you what lengths people will go to just to be mean-spirited. I think at any basketball level, no matter if it's all black, all white, all Hispanic, all Asian or anyone else, the players should just be a basketball team."
Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.
"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
The Atlanta-based league, which will operate as a single-entity owning all of its teams, is looking for local contacts to pay $10,000 to become a "licensee" in one of 12 cities throughout the Southeast. Lewis said he has already received threats from people opposed to the roster restrictions and several cities have told him to stay out of town. Lewis said he has yet to hear from any one in Augusta.
"We need a local person ingrained into the community to make this successful," he said.
Lewis said he expects to eventually find support in every town with a team.
"People will come out and support a product they can identify with. I'm the spoken minority right now, but if people will give us a chance, it'll work... The white game of basketball, which is essentially a fundamental game, works."
Lewis said he wasn't sure where the team will play.
Augusta has had problems with minor league basketball teams in the past, but the issues never centered around race. The Augusta Drive lasted less than a month before folding in 1995, citing financial reasons. The Augusta Groove made it through a full, 20-game schedule in 2009, but accusations from players and local businesses that the team wasn't paying its bills surrounded the team during the second half of the season. The team later shut down in the offseason.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
Copenhaver is a wimp and pityful excuse for a leader,so who cares what he will support. Anything that is exclusively white has to be racist doesn't it. Liberals can't make it on thier own.
I wonder if the all white team will have confederate uniforms, or if they will play in their robes without the hoods?
Moose is a Klan leader he is going to use this is a tool to brain wash these young men. I wonder if he would allow a multi racial cheerleading squad, wouldn't that be a site to see them cheering for an all white team. Who appointed him commisioner, the grand wizard? OMG LOL. He isn't racist how old is this man he must be in his 50s.
The more Moose get's turned down the Angrier, hateful, spiteful, detestably he will become, when all this boils over for him, from many failed attempts and denials from cities and death threats (so he says) he is going to use this as wood for a fire to ignite a rally with and for the hate groups who loves and feed on this kinda stuff. He's going to scream from the top of his lungs this white separatist racist dogma "They want let us have an all white basketball team" (which is basically what he's trying to do anyway atleast he's not subtle with it). And they will come and the numbers will grow. This is NOTHING BUT a recruiting tool for the KKK, Aryans, Nazi lovers etc.
Notreally, won't is a contraction for will not. Want means desire. Trying to interchange them is racially insensitive.
Almost as exciting as womens basketball. No dunks allowed.
Why in the heck would white guys want to play basketball? And who in the heck would go and watch such a production? Hey, I don't care that they only want whites, just like I could care less about blacks having things that are exclusively black. But this particular issue appears to be some kind of stunt because there is no way that this is something that could succeed. What's next? An all black ice hockey league?
We need team names:
The Augusta Supremacists. The Augusta Grand Wizards. Not really catchy.
As many of you know we have the NAACP, No whites, We have the United Negro College Fund, no whites, We have Miss Black America, no whites, We have Quanza, no whites, so now when someone describes the new league for Whites, everyone calls this person a racist!!!! though I feel the result will cause a stir as everyone see's this as a slap to the Non-white majority, I feel this person has a right to promote this. Gee wonder if someone started the Augusta Hispanic soccer league would this raise the same Racist remarks.. Of course not, because repressed folks are the only ones who can do this....
wow!
How many Whites on The Harlem Globtroters? Would you consider them racists? They are talented.... who cares what color they are?
Hey Farrakhanfruit aka notreality...Go borrow a suit and put on a bow tie and you can pass out "The Final Call" outside of the games....
as long as you take your hood off obx2019 and stand next to me, but I want need a bow tie just a regular suit. Your handouts could be "Keep it white, it's right". LOL.
Fruity are you "allowed" to be seen with white people. I mean you have so many white friends and all.............
For this special occasion obx2019 to share the stage with you (as long as your hood is off) I will be seen with you. How many "Keep it white, it's right" pamplets you ordered?
I will be calling Sen. Byrd's office today to see how many he can send....Make sure your idol Farrakhan gives you his blessing...
Again Fruity your Laney education is showing. Please learn the correct usage of won't and want i.e. your 10:25 7:10 posts. It is hard enough to take you seriously with all the Middle School girl lol's and omg's and add in the poor grammar and sentence structure and you pretty much lose it...credibility that is.
obx2019 you can call whoever you like, just make sure your "Keep it white is right" stack of pamphlets don't run out while we are standing there. Oh and leave your hood in the car. Oh and make sure your level of degrees in the Klan is on display, don't you guys get bars, Ks, Xs or something? What level are you on now?
Looks over at obx2019 and starts to chant with him: "Keep it white, it's right", "Keep it white, it's right"..... LOL..
Looks over at Fruity and just laughs. The ignorance he displays, courtesy of Lucy C. Laney, the middle school girl banter and of course his DAILY race baiting. So much there to laugh at. Keep the laughs coming notreality, nobody laughs with you they just laugh at you! And with that I am done with you, for I have given you too much of my attention today as it is. Keep baitin' fruity it's all you got...............
LOL @ obx2019 then HUSH... and stay hidden behind your hood, move along LOL... Hey how's your dog?
Why is this racism? Isn't there an NAACP? Aren't there all black colleges? What about the Miss Black America contest? What about the United Negro College Fund? Are these not racist organizations? It's funny that every time there is mention of something all white or that whites dare say they are proud of their heritage, it's racism. It's typical of this biased, politically correct paper to print this bogus article. Like I have been told when I don't agree with something I believe is racist, "It is their right to have these organizations, If you don't like it, don't support them!"
Isn't this the same thing as BETV Black Entertainment TV?
BET would have never started had African Americans were allowed to present their shows on the major networks. The major networks DID NOT want to include black shows/faces in their daily line up, so BAM BET was created to show case black talent on a black run network.
arthur, I believe RCR adequately answered your question on the other "post" addressing this dumb idea.
what are you talking about notreally? BET was founded in 1980. There were plenty of black shows on the major networks in the 1970's. The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, The Bill Cosby show, The Flip Wilson show, Good Times, Different Strokes, Fat Albert, etc. I realize that they didn't dominate the airwaves but the networks were pretty quick to respond with shows to please their black audience and in the process they pleased their white audience as well. I loved most of those shows!
Yep Chillen and more-so BET was created initially so that the network lineup consisted of music videos, and reruns of popular black sitcoms. Furthermore, scholars within the African American community maintain that BET perpetuates and justifies racism by affecting the interpersonal beliefs others may generalize about African Americans, and also by affecting the psyche of its young viewers through its bombardment of negative images of African Americans.
When will u peasants realize that white people helped organize and create NAACP.
Goodness Gracious--why all the diatribes against white people wanting to play basketball? Seems to me the MAJORITY of any professional games are black (and some rather exclusively so). The only game I have observed without seeing blacks on a team are the hockey players. So what if a group of people want to play ball; I don't think the concept is racist at all, but I do think some folks get hung up on what a color is. Seems to me that the epidermis is not very deep and everyone is the same just under the surface of the skin.
there are whites that go to black colleges