Silence, Innocence, and Whiteness: The Undemonization of Kevin Love

Silence,Innocence, and Whiteness: The Undemonization of Kevin Love byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
TheMinnesota Timberwolves battled the Houston Rockets this past Saturday.  Normally not on my radar, an incident involving KevinLove and Luis Scola compelled inquiry even as the media remained silent.  Purportedly frustrated over a non-call,Love not only fouled Scola, but as the Houston power forward lied on the groundLove proceeded to step on his face as he ran back to the offensive end of thecourt.  "I fell down. He was kindof right there," Love explained. "I got Size-19 feet. Hejust happened to be there. I had nowhere to go. I got tripped up. I had nowhereto step. It is just heat of the moment-type play."  The non-explanation aside, Lovesimultaneously identifies the incident as an accident and justifiable. 
Ifan accident, why does he feel necessary to describe it as an unfortunatesituation or to reference what happen between the two of them in game on Monday?"Love alsoreferenced an unfortunate incident in Houston on Monday, when Scola attemptedto throw a ball to deflect it off of Love out of bounds but the ball hit Lovesquare in the groin." Offering an explanation that seemingly justified hisaccidental behavior, Love was not alone in the exoneration process.
Whatfollowed the game, and the several days since there, has been silence –crickets in fact.  Despite the factthat one of the league's emerging stars stepped on an opponent's face, themedia has found little reason to write about the event.  References to the event notwithstandingand a series of articles that have asked viewers to weigh in whether it wasintentional or not, the overall media discourse has rendered Love's stomping onan opponent's face insignificant by its relative silence. 
Evenafter the NBA announced a 2-game suspension for Love, the sports punditocracyhas been muted in its criticism of Love, choosing rather to focus on hisapology.  Several headlines notedthat in wake of the suspension, he has apologized yet again, having alreadyapologized to Luis Scola following the game.  In headline after headline, Love is constructed asapologetic, even though there is no specific apology provided by any of thenews outlets (example#1, example#2).  Instead they referencehis statement issued on the team's website:
"We got to talking about it, and as long as Luis andthe Rockets are OK, then I'm OK with it," Love said. "I feel like itwas a learning experience, and it won't happen again. There were noill-intentions. I was trying to get him on a foul on the way up. I wasn'ttrying to stomp him or anything like that. Just moving forward, and hopefullywe win these next few games.
Hispost practice comments are further illustrative of a lack of contrition anda desire to give explanation rather than apology:
I don't want to be known for that. I want to be knownas a stand-up guy who happened to make a mistake with a size 19 shoe and justmove on. So everybody knows there were no ill intentions there.  It's been a chippy year.  It's not only us. It's not only thePacers, the Rockets or anything like that. It's a lot of games. The guys aretired. Games are being drawn out and guys are worn down.
Denyingany "ill-intentions," while describing it as a learning experience, doesn'tconstitute an apology.   Thelack of criticism, the efforts to explain Love's actions as resulting from hisemotions, out-of-the-ordinary behavior, and otherwise not indicative of Love'scharacter reflect an overall effort to downplay the importance of his stompingon an opponent's face.
Comparethis response to the recent media criticism directed at Andrew Bynum.  FollowingGame 4 of the 2011 NBA playoffs, which saw Bynum knock JJ Berea to the floorwith a very hard foul, he was lambasted in the media. Called athug, as player who was ejectedfor "dirty hits,"  and as aplayer who exhibited, "stupidity,cowardice and unprofessionalism"; KenBerger described the play and Bynum specifically in the following way:
Losing is one thing. Getting swept is another.Getting sent home in an utterly uncompetitive blowout is even worse. Butnothing is more disgusting than champions acting like punks. Nothing is moreembarrassing than a team that cannot lose with dignity.    . . .Bynum, a positive forceduring much of the series, doesn't deserve to wear a Lakers uniform again afterhis unconscionable cheap shot to a defenseless, airborne J.J. Barea in thefourth quarter of a 30-point humiliation. There's no place for that regardlessof the victim, but Bynum violated the No. 1 rule of the schoolyard (where hebelongs) and the NBA: Pick on someone your own size. Only punks and losers takeaim at those half their size. 
Suchvitriol has been no where in the response to Kevin Love.  Others described the play with Bynum as"bushleague," as "dirty", as "classlessacts" that are repulsive and without any valid excuse." Bynum was alsosuspended for 5 games as a result of his play during the Western conferencesemifinals, yet for some this wasn't close to enough of a punishment. 
Asimilar level of outrage and demonization was evident following an incidentinvolving Ndamukong Suh, who was unmercilessly condemned as "dirty"as not "justdirty, but filthy."   Theefforts to demonize Suh and to use the on-the-field incident as a referendum onSuh's character and values stands in stark contrast to the tepid and excuse-riddenresponse to Kevin Love.
Thesystematic excuse machine embodies the sporting world's wages of whiteness andthe hegemony of anti-black racism. It is the embodiment of Peggy McIntosh's invisible knapsack, whodescribed white privilege in the following way:
I have come to see white privilege as an invisible packageof unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which Iwas "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisibleweightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas,clothes, tools, and blank checks
Assuch, Love, without even having to defend himself, was able to cash in on hiswhiteness.  With a media not onlydefending, downplaying, and disputing any ill-intent, with a media that hasconstructed the criminalblackman on and off the field, that has made itvirtually impossible to see unsportsmanlike behavior outside of the black body,it is no wonder that few were able to see Love's action as troubling. 
Thedisparate responses are indicative of the larger inequalities that defineAmerica's criminal justice system.  In a system where African Americans and Latinos are presumed guilty, thewages of whiteness are powerful so much so that the media frequently deployedits right to remain silent, securing Kevin Love's innocence in the nationalimagination. 
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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of CriticalCulture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. Hehas written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in bothpopular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy ofpopular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, andpopular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. Leonard's latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness will bepublished by SUNY Press in May of 2012.