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April 29. 2009
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College Basketball’s Dirty Little Secret
Coaches must
be held
accountable
M arc H.
M orial
by
There is a dirty little
secret in college bas
ketball. The sad truth
lurking just beneath
the surface of March
Madness is that each
year a large number of ath
letes - mostly black -play
their hearts out for coaches
whose salaries continue to
rise, while graduation rates
for their student-athletes re
main unacceptably low.
And'with only about one
percent of college basketball
players making it to the NBA
each year, I am reminded of
the words of William Gates,
a struggling student-athlete
featured in the 1994 docu
m entary, Hoop D ream s.
"People always say to me,"
he said, "when you get to the
NBA, don't forget about
me." Well, I should've said
back, "if I don't
m ake it to the
NBA, don't you
forget about me."
I haven't for
gotten about Wil
liam Gates or the
th o u sa n d s o f
other young men like him
who bring fame and fortune
to th e ir c o a c h e s and
schools only to be left with
no diploma and no future
when the game is over.
What has prompted my lat
est outrage is the announce
m ent that form er UM ass
and M emphis coach John
Calipari has just signed an
eight-year, $31.65 million
contract to coach the Uni
versity of Kentucky basket
ball team.
Calipari has a history as
one o f the w inningest
coaches in college basket
ball. But he has also been
associated with numerous
NCAA violations and his
rates of his players?
The college graduation
rate for all NCAA basket
ball players hovers around
45 percent, with black ath
lete graduation rates about
20 percent lower than the
average. I find it troubling
Shouldn't there be some
correlation between a
college coach's salary and
the graduation rates of his
players?
players have some of the
lowest graduation rates in
college basketball. The ques
tion must be asked: shouldn't
there be some correlation
between a college coach's
salary and the graduation
that colleges and coaches
who would not tolerate that
kind of mediocrity on the
basketball court are all too
willing to accept it in the
classroom , all for the lure
of big money.
A ccording
to
New
America Media, the nation's
largest consortium of ethnic
news organizations, in the
1990s top caliber athletes in
dividually generated more
than $ 5 00,000 fo r th eir
schools, and the six-year
contract the NCAA has with
CBS for March Madness is
worth $11 billion.
To its credit, in 2004 the
NCAA began to assess pen
alties for schools having
graduation success rates of
60 percent or lower. These
sanctions include loss of
scholarships and potential
restrictions on post-season
play.
According to an analysis
by the University of Central
F lo rid a , 65 p e rc e n t (37
teams) of this year's men's
tournament teams graduated
60 percent or more of their
white basketball student ath
letes, while only 42 percent
of schools (26 teams) gradu
ated 60 percent or more of
their African American bas
ketball players, resulting in a
23 percent gap. These num
bers are a slight improve
ment over past years, but still
not good enough.
It is clear while college
basketball is enriching the
coffers of major schools and
coaches; it is not a guaran
teed ticket out of poverty for
the players.
S chools should base
coaches salaries on gradua
tion rates, and student-ath
letes need to place more
emphasis on their first obli
gation - getting a good edu
cation and earning a college
degree.
Marc H. Morial is presi
dent and c h ie f executive
officer o f the National Ur
ban League.
Guns are Wreaking Havoc Throughout America
level to set up community hard, spending millions, to
policing programs to help keep the federal g overn
liv e s to gun residents feel safe and to m ent out o f th e gun
violence this establish youth centers that industry’s business matters.
The NRA claim s to be
keep young people off the
year.
fig
h tin g fo r A m e ric a n ’s
E very day, street and away from guns.
more than 80
people in this
c o u n try are
killed by a gun
while another 200 are shot
and injured. No other de
veloped nation has a higher
rate of gun violence than
Am erica. No one and no
place is safe: Senior cen This approach has brought constitutional rights. But,
ters, churches, businesses, some success, but local pro- during the course of their
s c h o o ls h av e all been g ram s can o n ly do so c ru s a d e , th e y ’ve a lso
much. Federal oversight is fought ag ain st proposed
marred by gun violence.
legislation that would have
For years, this country needed.
extended
the waiting period
The National Rifle Asso
has struggled with ways to
for
gun
buyers,
severely
combat gun violence. Nu ciation. the nation’s largest
m erous advocacy groups and m ost p o w erfu l gun lim ited the sales of auto
have worked at the local lobby, has fought long and matic firearms and forced
No one and no place is safe
by
J udge G reg M athis
In the la st m o n th ,
more than 40 people,
across the country have
lost their lives to gun vio
lence in very high pro
file cases.
In Binghamton, N.Y.,
a gunman killed 13 people
before shooting himself. In
Pittsburgh, a reported white
supremacist shot and killed
three police o fficers. In
Oakland, Calif., three more
officers were shot down in
the line of duty.
S ad ly , th ese v ic tim s ,
spread across the country,
in places like North Caro
lina, Florida and Alabama,
are just a small percentage
of those who will lose their
No other developed
nation has a higher rate o f
gun violence than America.
gun makers to add m anda
tory child safety locks to all
handguns.
Regulation isn’t the only
answer to our country’s gun
problem. Indeed, guns don’t
kill people, people do. How
ever, with so little regulation
of the gun industry - a child’s
teddy bear is more heavily
regulated than a hand gun is
- it is difficult to make sure
firearms don’t end up in the
wrong hands.
As A frican A m ericans,
we should be particularly
concerned about this issue.
We make up about 12 per
cent of the U.S. population,
but account for 26 percent
o f the c o u n try ’s g u n -re
lated deaths; th at’s about
21 people - black people -
killed by guns each day.
P re sid e n t O bam a has
promised that his administra
tion will not be ruled by spe
cial interest organizations like
the NRA. Let’s take advan
tage of this opportunity.
Write your U.S. Senators
and Congressmen and men
tion the recent headlines but
also write about someone
you know personally who lost
their life to gun violence. Ask
them to start talking about
gun regulation and gun con
trol in Washington. Let them
know that safe streets are as
equally important as jobs and
a stable economy.
Ju d g e G reg M a th is is
vic e p r e s id e n t o f R a in
bow PU SH and a board
m em ber o f the Southern
C h r is tia n
L e a d e r sh ip
C onference.
Black Caucus Endorses Lifting the Embargo on Cuba
Black Caucus
has it right
by
W illiam R eed
A recen t Black
C aucus delegation
visit to Cuba has riled
up America’s anti-Fi
del Castro forces who are
against lifting the 47-year-old
trade and travel embargoes
of that island nation. Presi
dent Barack Obam a pro
poses lifting travel restric
tions on Cuban-Americans,
but Black Caucus delegation
members say the larger eco
nom ic blockade of Cuba
should also be brought to an
end as well.
Over the years, the Black
Caucus has sought trade and
travel with the Caribbean
co u n try ju st 90
m iles o ff U.S.
shores.
A Congressional
Black Caucus 2000
delegation set up a
model for the two
countries working together.
R egarding the subject of
underserved medical needs
of Am erican inner cities,
Castro suggested granting
scholarships to low-income
youths selected by the Con
gressional Black Caucus to
com e to Cuba and study
medicine.
The 2009 delegation found
over 100 American students
- more than half of them
black - enrolled in the pro
gram at the Latin American
School of M edicine, the
prominent part of the Cuban
healthcare system and pos
sibly the largest m edical
school in the world.
The Black Caucus’s schol-
New York-based group that
receives and processes the
applications for the scholar
ships, says "We see it as a
tremendous opportunity to
help provide quality medical
care in underserved commu
nities.” (According to the
Cuba’s 21 medical faculties all
train young people o f poor
families from throughout the
Americas.
U.S. Census, only about 5
percent of U.S. doctors are
black)
At the recent Summit of
the A m ericas, P resid en t
Obama suggested that the
U.S. could learn a lesson of
iw Purtlanb U)b»erurt goodwill from Cuba. In 1998,
C uba’s government began
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ars receive free educations
as doctors, nurses and den
tists. Rev. Lucius Walker,
executive director of the In-
terreligious Foundation for
Community Organization, the
with Cuba differ vastly from
those of most Cuban immi
grants and Cuban-A m eri
cans.
The former lily-white up
per crust of Cuban society
wield political clout in Florida
and are dead set against nor
malizing relations with Cuba’s
government. Consequently
•most politicians have chosen
to adopt Cuban-Am erican
views.
From 1960 to 1979, hun
dreds of thousands of Cu
bans began new lives in the
U.S. Most of these Cuban
Americans came were from
educated upper and middle
classes and form the back
bone o f the a n ti-C a stro
movement. Cuban Ameri
cans are A m erica’s fifth-
largest Hispanic group and
the largest Spanish-speaking
group of white descent.
Back home, Black Cubans
made great advances in the
past four decades and are
often cited as one of the sig
nal acco m p lish m en ts o f
C astro 's rev o lu tio n . The
m edical program s are an
example. Cuban officials re
port there being 13,000 black
p h y sic ia n s am ong the
country’s 11 million people,
com pared to A m e ric a ’s
20,000 black doctors in its
population of 290 million.
At present, the embargo
limits American businesses
from conducting business
with Cuban interests. It is
the most enduring trade em
bargo in m odern history.
Despite the em bargo, the
U.S. is the fifth largest ex
porter to Cuba with 5.1 per
cent of Cuba's imports com
ing from the U.S.
Polling indicates that the
American public is ambiva
lent about continuing the
embargo. A 2007 AP/Ipsos
poll indicates that 48 percent
of Americans favor continu
ing the embargo, against 40
percent who favor ending it.
Mainstream media joined
anti-Castro hardliners de
nouncing the Black Caucus
position on Cuba, but that
view is also opposed by busi
ness leaders who claim that
freer trade would be good
for Cuba and the U nited
States.
Like the Black Caucus,
U.S. corporate interests are
impatient to do business with
Cuba. Oil companies want to
drill offshore, farmers to ex
port more rice, vegetables
and meat, construction firms
to b uild in fra stru c tu re
projects. Young C ubans
from families exiled to Florida
are less radical than their
parents and also advocate
ending the policy.
W illiam R eed is a n a
tional commentator. He is
president and chief execu
tive officer o f Black Press
International.