Gilbert Arenas destroys racism narrative

Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas recently shared his perspective on racism, sparking a discussion about the true nature of the issue. In an interview with VLAD TV, Arenas expressed his belief that he has never personally experienced real racism throughout his basketball career.

When asked about encountering racism in the NBA, Arenas responded with a firm “No,” stating that true racism is rooted in the hatred of someone’s existence solely based on their color. He emphasized that being called racist because of attending games with black athletes or having admiration for their skills is misguided, highlighting the incongruity of supporting and idolizing black players while holding prejudiced beliefs about their personal lives.

“Real [racism]? No,” Arenas said. “I think the reason I say ‘no’ is when you’re talking about racism, you’re talking about ‘I hate the fact that you exist.’ The color. Everything. I don’t care you. Now, you’re telling me I go to Boston and then there’s 22,000 people. You guys are supposed to be racist. Your whole team’s f*cking black. Now real racism means you’re not even f*cking in this building, you’re not f*cking basing this team, ‘Get it all white, I’ll f*cking come back.’ That’s racism to me.”

The host then told Arenas that while people might attend games with black athletes, but they might think that they are inferior and, for example, wouldn’t want them to date their daughter or invite to their home. Arenas thought that it’s more stupid than racist.

“Yeah, but I have on your jersey, I have on your shoes, I buy your product. Sounds stupid,” he said. “I’m up here cheering and jumping. ‘You can’t date my daughter! But can you take a picture with her?’ That’s f*cking stupid. I don’t know what f*cking book you’re reading from, but it’s not the book that I’ve learned. And that’s why I say you give me Duke. Duke probably wouldn’t show up to a game that has all black people. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even go to sports games. That’s real racism. That’s someone who says ‘Hey, I don’t consider none of this valuable.’”

Arenas emphasized the importance of looking at actions when judging where someone’s racist or not. He brought up an example of President Donald Trump’s, who is falsely accused of racism, rallies where music by black artists is being played.

“So when I really judge it, I’m looking at the behavior,” Agent Zero said. “Like, same think with someone like Trump. ‘Oh he’s racist.’ But every f*cking rally he does it’s all black music. It’s not… I can hear that’s Rihanna, like, that sounds like Rihanna. And then it switch to that’s John Legend, that’s what right there. Beyonce’s next. This is not like he’s playing Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga all day. Like, come one That’s the sh*t I pay attention to. I hear words, but then I look at action and action speaks very loud to me.”

Acknowledging the hypersensitivity of the current environment, Arenas cautioned against loosely labeling everything as racism, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between genuine discrimination and instances that may be deemed insensitive but lack the core characteristics of racism.

“That fact that you have to watch what you say means you can say ‘Oh that’s racist! You can’t naturally to just talk about racism because you’re racist.’ They’re gonna f*cking trick you.”