Former Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce had a nickname during his career - “The Truth.” But after what he said about Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark on Tuesday, we should call him “The Racist.”
Clark and the Hawkeyes defeated the LSU Tigers (the defending national champions) 94-87 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament. Iowa’s best player dropped 41 points (making nine threes) and dished out 12 assists en route to help Iowa earn their second consecutive berth in the Final Four.
IT’S A CAITLIN CLARK TAKEOVER! 💦
— Coolbet Canada 🇨🇦 (@CoolbetCanada) April 2, 2024
Another deep three from the Iowa star makes it an 8-0 run!
Iowa 58 | 52 LSU#MarchMadness
pic.twitter.com/EJS5yYgKBH
For those of you who may follow women’s college basketball, you'll know this type of performance is fairly standard from Clark. But to Pierce, it was extra special.
It wasn’t because Clark played out of her mind in a revenge game against the team she lost to in the national championship last year. Clark’s performance was extraordinary to him because he didn’t think a white player could perform well against a team with primarily black players.
"We saw a white girl [Caitlin Clark] in Iowa do it to a bunch of black girls. That gained my respect... She did it to some girls from LSU who we thought was some dawgs — defending champs — and put 'em on their knee & spanked them."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 2, 2024
- Paul Piercepic.twitter.com/Gj9VL2NgNj
"We saw a white girl in Iowa do it to a bunch of black girls. That gained my respect,” Pierce said on “Undisputed.” “She did it to some girls from LSU who we thought was some dawgs — defending champs — and put 'em on their knee & spanked them. I didn’t expect that.”
In his view, Clark didn’t have what it takes to play well against a team with Black players because she’s white. He thought that would automatically inhibit her ability to beat LSU, and that black players were inherently better because of their skin color. That’s not only racist, it diminishes what Clark has achieved in her collegiate career.
Pierce’s mentality is nothing new. There is a contingent of certain black NBA players (who are mostly retired) that the league inherently belongs to black players, and white athletes being celebrated is a threat to their grip on the league. Evidently, Pierce is applying that same mindset to the women’s game.
But if Pierce’s assessment of talent is true (which it isn’t), why even play the games? Why don’t we just say the team with more Black players is going to win, since white girls clearly can’t hang with their stuff? Heck, why even recruit white players at that point, since their skin color automatically makes them inferior athletes?
“Racism” is the act of saying that a person’s skin color determines their worth as a human or what they are capable of. After looking at Pierce’s comments, I think it's safe to say he deserves a new nickname.
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