The Caitlin Clark knockdown: A Rorschach test on racism

Why the hate for Caitlin Clark?

And the disrespect.

Within a few days last week, Clark got cold-cocked by another player, who got a minor penalty until the WNBA upgraded her foul a day later and Clark learned she would not be on the U.S. women’s basketball Olympic team.

First things first: Clark got blindsided and knocked to the hardwood floor — which could have caused her serious injury. She was strongly hip-checked by opposing player Chennedy Carter, a hard foul that was buried in a Mike Sielski Inquirer column, in which he minimized the attack as a rite of initiation to the WNBA.

And there may be some truth to that.

Rookies sometimes get “welcomed” to the NBA with elbows and hip checks.

But Clark was away from the ball. The hit was hard and dirty. The elephant in the room is that Clark is white and Carter is Black. This presents a Rorschach test on racism.

Had their races been reversed, would not the “white” Carter be accused of a racist attack on the “Black” Clark?

Do I have to ask?

The answer is yes, to anyone who understands the zeitgeist of 21st Century America, which is given to digital lynch mobs running wild on X, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Most of the coverage I read about the foul ignored or downplayed the racial angle. 

This in a day when even trivial episodes are quickly ginned up to felonious racism, sexism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and fat shaming.

But for Clark, as you can see in Sielski’s column, the obvious racism is downplayed or denied.

Or am I being racist to see racism? I generally require a lot of proof before I hurl the R-word.

Was racism the only thing that animated Carter?

Probably not.

There’s jealousy directed against  Clark, who became the most famous player in the WNBA the moment she signed her first pro contract. How many other WNBA players can you name?

And that fame produced commercial endorsements that probably made her the richest woman in the league.

Make that the richest heterosexual woman in a league in which lesbians are a dominant force.

A friend of mine who plays and follows basketball and basketball commentary, wonders why liberals like him were so reluctant to call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. (My cliche, not his, and yes, I am going there.) 

Can it be that in this arena — sports — Blacks are held to a different standard than are whites? 

He also wondered why Clark’s teammates let Carter get away with it. One of Clark’s teammates — 6-5, 220-pound forward Aliyah Boston — witnessed the knockdown from five feet away and did nothing. She just stood there, like a giant Sequoia.

Maybe she was scared. Carter, who refused to apologize, has been on three teams in four years and is known for fighting with her own teammates. A real charmer.

For her part, Clark shrugged it off as being part of a very competitive game. Clark’s a class act, but she knows assault is not part of the game of basketball. But she was smart enough to let this issue expire.

She showed amazing maturity for a 22-year-old, as she did with the following Olympics rejection. 

She gamely expressed no disappointment, and said she would root for the American team. Maybe she felt she had not yet paid her dues, and said she hoped to be part of it someday.

Without question, she will. All she has done so far is elevate the popularity of women’s basketball to unprecedented heights, and empowered millions of girls to think that anything is possible.

This young woman is running a clinic on sportsmanship, on how to be a role model, showing she is a champion both on and off the court.