Rand Paul Compares College Basketball Players, 'Rap Stars'

Supply: Invoice Clark / Getty

Here’s a thought: If Republicans are uninterested in defending themselves in opposition to accusations of racism, possibly they need to cease saying issues which are inherently, if not blatantly, racist.

Take U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, as an example.

On Tuesday, Paul attended the Senate Homeland Safety Committee’s Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations’ anti-trust listening to in regards to the upcoming merger of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The three-term senator from Kentucky stated he was of the opinion that Congress had “no enterprise” even questioning the PGA tour in regards to the merger with the Saudi-backed golf group. Nonetheless, he didn’t seem to have the identical power for faculty basketball gamers who’ve the audacious nerve to—*checks notes*—earn a living off their very own names and likenesses.

That’s proper, of us. Whereas Rand believes golfers ought to be capable to get their cash nonetheless and wherever they will, he thinks anti-trust legal guidelines in sports activities take one thing away from the world of faculty soccer by permitting gamers to monetize their “Identify, Picture, and Likeness” (NIL) rights.

And we haven’t even gotten to the racist half but.

“Many people beloved watching novice athletes that weren’t paid,” Paul stated. “Now everyone that performs basketball in faculty is gonna be driving a Bentley or a Rolls. I imply, we’re gonna be seeing rap stars as a substitute of basketball stars.”

Now, conservatives and different assorted white folks will argue that Paul didn’t point out race and thus didn’t say something racist. These folks will ignore that Black gamers account for almost 60% of athletes in males’s faculty basketball and that the game has, for many years, been largely related to Black folks within the U.S.

what else is basically related to Black folks? Rap music.

So, in addition to the truth that Paul seems to be pining for a time when white folks bought to observe Black folks flex their athleticism without spending a dime (not that there’s a historical past of white of us’ demand without spending a dime Black labor or something…), he’s additionally reflexively stereotyping younger Black folks simply because they’re profiting off their very own picture.

Additionally, right here’s a query: Are rappers the one folks with cash who purchase good vehicles?

Are rock stars, actors and in any other case wells-off folks using round in ’89 Hondas? Why isn’t Paul evaluating the non-broke basketball gamers to Wall Road workers or younger folks with belief funds or—oh, I don’t know—skilled athletes?

Do golfers not like Bentleys?

Anyway, Black folks know why “rap star” was the primary comparability that got here to Paul’s thoughts as a result of we’ve had sufficient expertise in white America to talk fluent Caucasian canine whistle and we all know coded language once we hear it. And since there’s no level in us arguing with of us who’re going to be obtuse about it, let’s get again to Paul’s assertion that faculty ball gamers of any race must be disallowed to make any cash in any respect whereas the NCAA generates about $1 billion a 12 months.

(Lest we overlook in regards to the time Paul employed equally racist dog-whistling ways throughout his 2022 marketing campaign in opposition to Charles Booker, a Black candidate, in addition to throughout the Senate affirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, a then-nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court docket who additionally simply occurs to be Black. However I digress…)

Thoughts you, we’re not even speaking about faculty basketball gamers being paid to play basketball—we’re speaking about folks being compensated for the usage of their given names and their bodily likenesses. Why ought to actually anybody permit a enterprise to revenue off of their title and picture without spending a dime? Would Paul not be on the lookout for residuals if some toy firm began manufacturing Congressional motion figures? (I simply made myself chuckle a short time imagining a miniature Rand Paul figurine with a cape round him that reads, “Tremendous Mad.“)

One would assume that members of the “pull your self up by your bootstraps” celebration can be much less inclined to restrict the best way younger folks can earn a dwelling. Apparently, the American previous time of benefiting from free labor will trump these bootstraps each time.