The members of the US Olympic men’s basketball team to compete in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics were announced on June 28, 2021. Only one of the selected members of the team, Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is white.
Jalen Rose, a former NBA player and current ESPN commentator, said the following on his radio program:
… Kevin Love is on the team because of tokenism. Don’t be scared to make an all-Black team representing the United States of America. I’m disappointed by that…Anybody that watched the league this year knows Kevin Love did not have a stellar season, was not the best player on his team, and did not necessarily deserve to be on this squad..I’m disappointed in Team USA for not having the courage to send an all-Black team to the Olympics.
I’m not agreeing that Love is a “token.” I am not qualified to assess NBA-caliber talent and don’t follow the league closely enough to even have an opinion on whether Love is one of the 12 best American players. I’m agreeing that if consensus among experts is that Love is not as good a choice as some other players might have been, then Team USA should have had the courage not to add him.
Here are some stats – NBA rosters are made up of approximately 74% African American and 17% white players. Of the 17% white players, many are from Europe, so the number of white players eligible for Team USA is closer to 9%. That means for every white player in the “candidate pool” there are over 8 African American players that could be considered. Jalen Rose is suggesting that there are several equally, or perhaps better qualified black players who were passed over for the roster spot due to perceived pressure to have white representation on the team.
Corporate America faces a similar dilemma every day. With 76% of the population being white and only 13% being black, statistically there are between 5 and 6 white candidates for each African American candidate for a given job opening. This ratio is even higher in many technical fields where blacks are under-represented. Because of a combination of factors including a desire to increase the diversity of its workforce and a fear of having their organization being labeled “racist,” companies often feel pressure to hire the black candidate.
Notice I’m not saying nor suggesting that the passed-over white candidates were more qualified or that a chosen black candidate is automatically a “token.” There is really no such thing as “reverse discrimination.” It’s simply a statistical fact – when you are forced to make a choice between numerous options, when you choose option A, options B, C and D are no longer available to you. If you choose a white candidate, the black candidate along with five other white candidates are no longer an option. If you choose the black candidate, 6 white candidates are disappointed. Each organization needs to be able to make the choice of which candidate best fits its needs without fear.
What I hear Jalen Rose saying is, Team USA should have had the courage to not let race matter in its choice of players on the roster. I agree and think that organizations of all types should have the same courage when making their personnel choices. Diversity matters, and if an organization’s workforce doesn’t represent the talent pool available at all levels, that organization should evaluate its selection criteria for hidden biases. Qualified minority applicants should get every opportunity, but organizations should not feel compelled to give them preferred status as a way to prove their “wokeness.” As long as our society chooses to embrace the philosophy of Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory while abandoning Dr. King’s vision of a color-blind society, race will continue to be over-emphasized as a selection criteria as it appears to have been for Team USA.