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All-white basketball alliance, a league for 'Americans' and racial wounds

By D. Scriber l Published: Wednesday, January 20 2010 17:15

fight_whts Chalk up a slam dunk for whites in America who are tired of seeing blacks, Latinos, Asians, and other non-white races on the basketball court. Or maybe it's a three-pointer for bigoted racism. Either way, deep-seated racial suspicions are alive and well in 2010 and the All-American Basketball Alliance -- a.k.a. the All-White Basketball League -- is rambling upon America's color divide like Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Confederate calvary. The league, which only accepts players who are “natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race," intends this summer to start its inaugural season in 12 U.S. cities.

AABA commissioner Don “Moose” Lewis insists that he’s not racist, but he just wants to get away from the “street-ball” played by “people of color” and back to “fundamental basketball.” Another reason Lewis gave for the league in an interview with the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia was recent incidents of bad behavior by NBA players he said would never happen with white players:

“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.” [...]

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 AABA doesn't appear to have much of a presence online and support for the league remains dubious. But the mere idea has stirred predictable reaction. Twitter, for example, has been buzzing today with users who wonder just what in the hell America is coming to. Here are a few responses:

"Craziness! I have no other words."

"I am in negotiations to start an all left-handed, red-haired, circus midget basketball league."

"We're sorry, Martin Luther King."

Image: The "Fightin' Whites" basketball team logo, a mock logo made by a Colorado high school team as a statement against racial team names, such as the "Redskins."

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