A recent incident at a basketball youth game underscored how racism continues to persist today. The viral video, which has since fetched millions of views on social media, showed a Black father rushing to protect his son in the game after a white man touched him. The game was proceeding smoothly with elementary school kids as participants until two of them got into a scuffle. Things escalated a bit, and the adults intervened.
Well, the particular video opens with several players dribbling their ball on the court. In one corner, a white and a Black child began arguing with each other.
The audio revealed how the white child’s mother pleaded with her son to calm down, while the Black boy nearly shoved the other child towards the corner of the wall. Right after this, surprisingly, the spat seemed to get over as quickly as it began, and the kids were even seen separating in different directions.
What followed next happened in a matter of a few seconds. With the boys having separated after the fight, a white man in a red shirt jumped into the court and made a straight shot at the Black boy. Even though he was standing far away from the white boy after shoving him into the wall, why the white man made a beeline for the Black boy was still unclear.
Meanwhile, the white boy was seen getting consoled by his mother, who sat in the gallery and kept her son close. While it was not clear whether the man was the coach or the white boy’s father, it seemed to be pretty clear from the evidence that he laid his hands on the black boy.
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This was exactly the moment when everything turned out of control as the Black boy’s father almost flew down like Superman and pinned the white man to the floor. He seemed to intervene and handle the business like adults. The Black man ran so fast that for a split second in the video, his move could have even been missed.
He dove at the white man, throwing him to the floor. Amid audience gasps, another white man escorted the black father out of the court.
While the reason for the Black father to attack the white man isn’t explicitly mentioned, it is quite evident that he did not like how the latter even dared to put his hands on the former’s son. In fact, his defense of his son also brings up quite visible signs of his deep anxieties about racialized authorities in the past, as well as policing the Black youth.
Reeking of controversy during an ordinary basketball game, the video grabbed quite a lot of attention, and the comments sparked a massive debate. Indeed, there were some remarks about racist beliefs, while others felt it was wrong for any parent to even touch another’s child. A commenter wrote, “Don’t touch other people’s kids.”
Another social media user attempted to describe the whole incident and penned, “Exactly why he ended up on the floor. He assaulted that minor and thought he was safe to do so. And the law of karma is you get what you give out. He simply got it back in adult form.” A third netizen commented, “The only thing nuts about this was the adult putting his hands on a child. Everything else… makes sense to me!”
Taking the video into consideration, many experts have also noted how racial biases continue to shape adult responses even today, particularly in the U.S. In this case, the response was towards youth conflicts, and the black father’s actions are fueled by past trauma of facing prejudices.
