LSU forward Angel Reese was called by Joe Biden to congratulate her
LSU Women’s Basketball Finalist Angel Reese and First Lady Jill Biden: A Special Moment for the White House and for the First Lady
Then of course, there was the dust-up between 20-year-old LSU women’s basketball champion Angel Reese and first lady Jill Biden about a White House visit.
Biden also spoke with the Tigers’ head coach, Kim Mulkey, the White House said, and left a message for Dan Hurley, head coach of the men’s championship-winning UConn Huskies, to offer his congratulations and invite both teams to the White House.
Reese said her team would not be visiting the White House after they won the NCAA women’s basketball championship on Sunday.
“I know my team probably wants to go for sure, and my coaches are supportive of that, so I’m going to do what’s best for the team. And if they would like to go, we decide we’re going to go, then we’re going to go.”
“In the beginning, we were hurt,” Reese said. It was an emotional moment for us because we knew how hard we worked all year. Just being able to see that, that hurt us in the moment.”
The first lady’s press secretary said the comments were intended to applaud the historical game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”
We always have the champion come to the White House. I am going to tell Joe, we hope LSU will come. [Biden] I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”
Reese responded to Biden with a comment that was captioned, “We not coming”, and “A Joke” on Monday while he was on “The Shade Room”. period.”
Alex Morris asked the First Lady whether her team could celebrate the win at their house after Barack wished them good fortune.
Editor’s Note: Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and former vice president at ESPN, has been a producer, reporter and editor at the New York Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. A co-author of “Say it Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete” is Jones. She talks politics, sports and culture weekly on Philadelphia’s 900AM WURD. Her views are what are expressed here. CNN has an opinion on it.
How the Memphis Bullies Revisited Memphis: Speaking Truth to Power in a System that Explodes Humans and Communities like Yours
But then, you grow older, the bullies get bigger, and more stealthy at systemically devaluing your humanity. You find out that the injustices in society occur from teachers, coaches and the police, as well as a political system that exploits communities like yours.
In Tennessee last week, three Democratic lawmakers used the power of their voices to protest for gun reforms after a shooting at a Nashville Christian school left six dead — three 9-year-olds and three adults. Citing rules against breaking House decorum, the legislators of the majority-Republican body shockingly voted to expel only the two Black politicians — Reps. Justin Jones of Nashville and Justin Pearson of Memphis, both in their 20s. The third lawmaker, a 60-year-old white woman from Tennessee, was not expelled.
These are voices that were elected by the people and were shut down because of their dare to challenge the status quo. Two were kicked out of the legislature, one saved by only one vote.
Pearson and Jones are continuing to speak. And no matter how Reese plays it — whether she visits the White House or not — she’s already won just by raising her voice to demand the respect she deserves.
Clark and Reese, athletes who bring the swagger and trash talk to the court, received very different treatment from the media and fans, after LSU defeated Iowa. The idea floated by Biden — to invite the losing team too — was rightly interpreted in most corners of the sports universe, and by many Black women across the country as a staggering insult to the joy of victory LSU, led by Reese, had duly earned.
And typically, those with power do what they do best — ignored her voice and her concerns. What matters is why Reese recoiled at the suggestion to include the runners-up. What matters is that she went to a safer place to visit the Obamas.
Addressing her concerns would have meant acknowledging and validating her truth and engaging in a dialogue with a specific demographic, young Black women, about what matters to them.
My mother’s advice is a difficult path to follow, no matter your age. As the expelled representatives Jones and Pearson found last week, along with Reese, speaking truth to power often comes at a high price, especially if you are Black. How many times will we as a nation accept the status quo when those in power try to silence young voices, specifically Black or brown Americans who try to practice my mother’s sage advice and use their voice?
Many Americans are hard-pressed to see how their lives have improved when Democrats are in charge. They are frustrated by the lack of progress they see on issues ranging from voting rights and police reform to school safety, gun reform, even the much talked about slavery reparations President Joe Biden spoke about while campaigning.
