Jaylen Brown is not your Negro
If there is great power in symbolism, not everything needs your participation.
Part of me wishes Jaylen Brown had looked away. Then, part of me wants him to rise above his twice Olympic exclusion and highlight what truly matters. The 2024 NBA champion and Finals MVP was not selected to compete on Team USA, and now his Celtics teammate Derrick White has just been named Kawhi Leonard’s replacement. Derrick White— the subtext has been laughable to many in the digital space. Still, it is unfortunate that Derrick, a seemingly decent human being with a championship ring, is caught up in the drama when every ball watcher knows Brown is better suited to fill Leonard's role than him. Watching the National Team’s Managing Director Grant Hill, who I admire, dance for the cameras to justify this move was also sad. This is why I wanted more from Jaylen. A mere tweet does not cut through enough of the machinations at play (for me). And I think a more thoughtful statement should have been forthcoming— a sharp dagger of words or nothing more about this nonsense.
But perhaps that is not how young celebrity warriors fight in today’s arena. Things that need to be said must be immediate for effect, and Brown knows that better than anyone. As the sports establishment’s perfect pariah— too bright, too Black, too fine of a man, too woke, too unabashedly unshackled by respectability politics— Jaylen may not be able to wait to gather his thoughts when corporate demons run amok to railroad his opportunities, or so he implied when he tweeted at Nike “this what we doing?” Every ball fan can recall the day he publicly came to Kyrie Irving’s defense for what many in the league would only dare whisper about. There were claims, off the record and in the far corners of Twitter, that Irving’s public shaming for tweeting a link to that infamous documentary looked like a heavy-handed, sanctimonious witch hunt. Only Brown had the gall to say it when he called out Nike for ending their partnership with Irving. Then, Brown had the nerve to parade around town with wearable support for the Palestinian people this year. Some would say those were bold moves for an NBBA athlete. So connecting the dots to his recent Olympic black-out is not difficult brain work. Jaylen, to some, is ungovernable. And it is unlikely he will ever be beloved by the establishment like Olympian Grant Hill, between making pilgrimages to Mecca and posing in front-row seats at Paris Fashion Week.
Jaylen Brown is no one’s Negro, or so he is telling the world.
He will be his own man when he wants and how he wants. And while I never saw the multi-millionaire Irving as a blameless “victim,” I hope Jaylen's penchant for picking at hypocrisy in sports continues. However, far more worthy causes deserve his superstar shine right now. So, I hope his politics are not as superficial as some of the Fashion Week denizens he encountered in Paris. Many would argue playing ball at the Olympics and waving the flag for a country currently arming a genocidal state is in direct opposition to advocating for Palestinians. But sports makes strange bedfellows. I know. As a ball fan, I am conflicted daily with giving my attention to the tools of imperialist propaganda. Still, not being chosen to play for Team USA as the country adds another bloody chapter to its history may be the snub you claim as a win. Because if you genuinely advocate for humanity, you must see the forest, not just the trees. That would be a far more powerful statement.