What do you think of this talk?

Here are comments from Hal Perry, USF Dons Basketball Team, NCAA champions in 1955 and 1956, Team Captain 1956:

“That’s right, he’s good, that’s fantastic, ooh boy, that’s a powerful statement,” these were some of the things I said while listening to the talk by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party on, “The NBA – Marketing the Minstrel Show and Serving the Big Gangsters.” I really appreciated hearing this talk. Everything he’s saying about sports, I lived through it.

While listening to Part 1 of the talk, I couldn’t believe how deeply and accurately Bob Avakian described everything. Anyone who listens to this talk is put in a better position to understand what really went on. It’s unbelievable how it describes what happened to Black players. It is so excellent and incredible, I can’t begin to express everything I think about it and I need to listen to it again. If you took a group of high school kids and had them sit down and listen to this, they’d never be the same again….

Blacks were excluded from sports for years. They weren’t allowed in the Industrial League and the story of Don Barksdale (one of the first Black players in the NBA) is an example of that. I played with the Harlem Globetrotters in one of their last series and I agree that the Globetrotters were very good as serious basketball players. The existence of the Globetrotters was influenced by the lack of Blacks in pro-basketball.

In my experience as a basketball player, Avakian makes a good point that there’s a need for leadership and coaching. I don’t agree with Bobby Knight’s approach that the players don’t know anything about the game and I think the players can understand more than the coach.

I highly recommend that people listen to this talk and spread the word about it.