Kyle Korver confronts racism, white privilege in a must-read essay

"I know I have to do better. So I’m trying to push myself further."

Racism in this country is a hard thing to talk about, a difficult topic that many people would like avoid, but Utah Jazz guard Kyle Korver confronted race and his own white privilege in a powerful essay for The Players’ Tribune.

Simply titled “Privileged“, the essay is a straightforward acknowledgement of the space Korver occupies not only in a league that’s over 75% black, but in a world where inequality seems to be woven into the fabric of the nation.  The statements are a bold, unflinching look into a mirror, that strips away performative inclusion to dig into the real work of being an ally.

What I’m realizing is, no matter how passionately I commit to being an ally, and no matter how unwavering my support is for NBA and WNBA players of color….. I’m still in this conversation from the privileged perspective of opting in to it. Which of course means that on the flip side, I could just as easily opt out of it. Every day, I’m given that choice — I’m granted that privilege — based on the color of my skin.”

Acknowledging white privilege is a step in the right direction, but Korver goes further, and digs into his own flawed thinking on what racism means in this country, and how deeply it can be internalized.

First, Korver details his initial, cringe-worthy, reaction to hearing the news that his former Hawks teammate and current Jazz player Thabo Sefolosha was arrested outside a nightclub by the NYPD in 2015.

“I thought, ‘Well, if I’d been in Thabo’s shoes, out at a club late at night, the police wouldn’t have arrested me. Not unless I was doing something wrong.'” he wrote.

That line of thinking comes back up again when asked about Russell Westbrook’s altercation with a fan who made racist taunts.

“But you know Russ. He gets into it with the crowd a lot,” he recalls telling a reporter.

Both instances are a clear look at how Korver’s whiteness has shielded him from having to take a real hard look at what it means to be a person of color in this country.

After the events in Salt Lake City last month, and as we’ve been discussing them since, I’ve really started to recognize the role those demographics play in my privilege. It’s like — I may be Thabo’s friend, or Ekpe’s teammate, or Russ’s colleague; I may work with those guys. And I absolutely 100% stand with them.

But I look like the other guy.

And whether I like it or not? I’m beginning to understand how that means something.

He goes on to say that white people may not be guilty for the sins of their forefathers, but they certainly bear the responsibility.

“It’s about understanding on a fundamental level that black people and white people, they still have it different in America. And that those differences come from an ugly history….. not some random divide,” he wrote.

There’s a tendency, among fans and in the media, to heap undue praise on white men for often doing the bare minimum, but Korver’s essay deserves to be acknowledged for what it is, an attempt to hold himself and other white athletes accountable for their behavior.

“I have to continue to educate myself on the history of racism in America,” he wrote. “I have to listen. I’ll say it again, because it’s that important. I have to listen.”

You can read the entire essay here. It is very much worth your time.