NBA Nerds

I will start with the main point of this article. Wesley Morris is examining how people of color’s self and social identities are undergoing a kind of evolution today. He points out that these new attitudes are being symbolically represented by the new styles (clothing styles) of NBA players. You normally wouldn’t think of changing the clothes you were would be a political statement, but it has been used many times to get points across. For example: when woman first starting wearing pants they were symbolically showing their demand for equality; Native Americans began wearing traditional clothing, or items of clothing, to protest the assimilation that was forced upon them…the list could go on. These small changes speak volumes on an unconscious level, and Morris is pointing out this is happening again.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand visual rhetoric, but I try to think of it almost like an installation piece in the fine art community. The images someone chooses to present to us be it a painting, sculpture, or the clothes they wear can speak to use as much as a speech can…just in a more unconscious level. This change in style of NBA players, and rappers as Morris also pointed out, is a visual way to combat stereotypes. It speaking two different old attitudes at once: it is saying that people of color are and can be successful, educated individuals’ not just athletes and that being rich/successful etc. isn’t selling out or abandoning their racial identity.