Scott Schultz We say Schultz is
extraordinarily idealistic and hopeful. If you want to join the
fight or pick a fight, send comments to [email protected].
It looks like the 2001-02 season is going to be special for the
men’s basketball team. All their players who are eligible to
return are returning. Princeton transfer Spencer Gloger’s
three-point shooting mastery will spread the floor, and we have one
of the best recruiting classes in the country.
Meanwhile, all our top Pac-10 rivals are being gutted by their
players leaving early to pursue their professional hoop dreams. The
Bruins should be a preseason top five pick. At worst, they’ll
begin the season in the top 10.
Now in order to be remembered as the ultimate champion team in
UCLA’s unmatched basketball legacy, there is one final step
necessary: BOYCOTT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT.
You read that correctly. UCLA should announce at the beginning
of the season that they will not participate in the NCAA tournament
because the Final Four is going to be held in Atlanta, Ga.
The problem with the event being held in Georgia is that it has
the Confederate symbol, a symbol of racial intolerance to many
Americans, on its state flag.
The symbol, also known as the “Navy Jack,” was
officially placed on the state flag in 1956, and it is a major
source of contention with the NAACP, among other groups.
And why shouldn’t it cause outrage? The Navy Jack
symbolizes, among other things, slavery and a treasonous militia
responsible for the bloodiest anti-government campaign in American
history.
Although the symbol has been miniaturized, it is still there. If
you had a malignant tumor in your body that threatened to
metastasize, you wouldn’t miniaturize it, you would have it
completely eradicated. Consider the racism that still lingers in
America as the cancer, and the Navy Jack represents the tumor.
As a descendant of European Jews, I would not tolerate Germany
creating a national flag with a swastika on it, not even a tiny
one. African-Americans should not be forced to tolerate it on a
state flag in their own country?
Why should UCLA basketball lead the cause? Because someone has
to, and that someone has to possess the charisma to create a
bandwagon effect. UCLA basketball has the marquee value that would
generate a media buzz. If the Bruins backed out, maybe other teams
would join the boycott. If it led to a significant sized boycott,
the state of Georgia would have to listen.
Why would Georgia have to listen? Because athletics is the
monetary lifeblood for Atlanta, and therefore Georgia’s
economic backbone.
The Atlanta Sports Council, a subsidiary of the Atlanta chamber
of Commerce, predicts that in the five year period of 1999-2003,
sports will have generated an estimated $4.5 billion in economic
impact for the city. The Final Four alone is conservatively
estimated to have an impact of $50 million. Therefore, an effective
boycott threat by the elite NCAA programs will have power behind
their punch.
Personally, I think that the NCAA should completely ban the
state of Georgia and all its institutions (including their
universities) from any participation in any sanctioned NCAA
events.
If a coach or a player verbalized the message behind the flag as
their own beliefs in a television or magazine interview, they would
automatically be removed from their program. Yet the NCAA rewards
the state that waves the flag of intolerance with a financial cash
cow.
Mississippi also has a Navy Jack on its state flag,but I’m
not concerning myself with it since its teams are traditionally
losers, and it’ll never host an event as significant as the
Final Four. It is the proverbial tree that falls in the forest.
Boycotting a sporting event to make a civil statement regarding
race issues is not unprecedented. In 1957, Mississippi Gov. J.P.
Coleman refused to allow the Ole Miss Rebels to take the floor
against Iona because the Gaels had a black player.
Gov. Gray Davis should make a similar declaration banning
California-funded institutions from playing schools from states
that wave hate symbols on their flag.
As far as the pro-Navy Jack argument goes, that it represents
Southern heritage, that is a crock. The Navy Jack did not exist
prior to the Civil War, and it should have ceased to exist after
the Confederacy’s surrender to the United States of America
in 1865.
The heritage of the Navy Jack is the heritage of the Civil War
and everything it encompasses, including slavery, Andersonville
Prison, violent treason and racial intolerance.
Even if the flag is not perceived by all people as a symbol of
hatred, it’s seen that way by a significant enough portion of
the American population to justify its removal.
I believe in the First Amendment, but hateful symbols have no
business on state flags.
It’s obvious by now that Georgia will not remove the
symbol voluntarily, so it’s up to the athletes who are
financing the state to force their hand by grabbing their money
pouch and squeezing their coins until Georgia submits.
Sure, it would be great for the Bruins to bring home another
championship banner for the rafters at Pauley, but some things are
more important than trophies.
To pass up the opportunity to win a championship they’ve
dreamed about all their lives for a nobler cause ““ such as
social progress ““ takes enormous grit and courage.
Imagine if the Bruins were to boycott the tournament and
actually created change by eradicating the hateful symbol forever.
They would go down in UCLA history as our greatest champions
ever.