Culturist Basketball Lessons

Today my local park had a Chinese basketball tournament. To play on the front courts you had to be Chinese. Well, except for the black referees. It was a race or culture-based exclusionary event. When you're Chinese those things overlap a great deal.

I got a pick up game going on the back courts. One of the guys, interestingly enough, had a Negro League shirt all-star basketball shirt. And so, for the purposes of this blog, I asked him what he thought about this situation.

"You know we fought as a nation for integration. Now do you think it's right to have a game where no blacks or whites are allowed?"

He seemed genuinely intrigued, but unsure. His tentative response was, "Well, I guess its their neighborhood, I mean there are a lot of them around here, and that's what they want to do." His point was interesting. They were happy and content locals and they did have two American flags on some seats.

"But you wouldn't be happy if we had a whites only game, right? I mean your shirt was an all black league." "But that was forced!" He quickly replied. "Yeah, but if they had a choice, they'd have wanted to play with everyone, right?" "That's true."

We broke it off there as we were there for basketball. I noticed that he had Chinese writing on his arm. He, apparently, hadn't given much thought to the clash of civilizations! And this is a such delicate culturist subject it would even be a source of debate amongst self-identified culturists.

Loyalty is largely local. In World War Two, people fought for their families and neighborhood's safety as much as they did for America. What they loved about America was the life it had provided. Having happy citizens, like the Chinese ballers, deserves consideration.

And, as uncomfortable as it is for me to be asked to go to the back of the park, culturism is not just about me. It asks that we always focus on what is good for Western culture.

If we countenance Chinese leagues, then we have to agree to Islamic events where no Christians are allowed. These would likely be anti-American in tone and bad for Western civilization. The thought of whites-only events curdles my blood and would create hostile relations. You could make a historical argument why there could be Chinese leagues and no white leagues.

The culturist bottom line is that we need to foster assimilation and attachment to America and Western ideals. A neighborhood basketball association that demographically happened to be mostly Chinese would obviously meet this culturist goal better. Racism is wrong. A battle on these grounds would teach important culturist lessons, but it would also create resentment and possibly clash with our commitment to freedom.

In the end, the point is not my park. Separatism and the divisiveness that comes from the issues discussed herein result from multiculturalism. Our schools need to teach unity. We have to win such arguments in the marketplace of ideas and not the courts. Until we do, I guess we'll have to take comfort in the fact that they had those two American flags on the sidelines.