The NBA Bubble is still around for now and I can only imagine what the situation in Orlando will be like in a few weeks, as players go stir crazy isolated in their hotel rooms, and they continue to snitch on each other on the Bubble Hotline. For what it’s worth, I haven’t seen any of the NBA players put up a fight about masks though – all of them are wearing masks whenever they leave their hotel rooms and the only time they get to remove their masks is for the court. There’s been a wide variety of player-masks this far, but James Harden’s mask situation got a lot of attention. He plays for the Houston Rockets, and the team’s social media posted some photos of Harden in a black and blue mask with some kind of skull motif. People quickly pointed out that this is the “Blue Lives Matter” mask and Harden was dumb for wearing it. He’s saying he didn’t know the meaning:
Houston Rockets guard James Harden said he did not intend to make a political statement by wearing a “Thin Blue Line” mask Thursday and that he was unaware of what the mask represented. The Thin Blue Line — the American flag with a blue line as one of the stripes — shows support for law enforcement. That flag, as well as the Punisher skull that was on Harden’s mask, are sometimes seen as symbols that are against the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Honestly, I wasn’t trying to make a political statement,” Harden said before the Rockets’ practice Friday. “I honestly wore it just because it covered my whole face and my beard. It’s pretty simple.”
Thursday was Harden’s first day practicing with the Rockets at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus after arriving five days after the team’s flight. Harden said he was considering ways that he could voice his support for the Black Lives Matter movement during the season’s restart, including whether he would have a social justice message on the back of his jersey. He reiterated that on Friday.
“I’m in the process of doing that right now,” Harden said. In regard to police, Harden said, “There’s people who do their job at a high level and there’s BS people in every profession.”
On Thursday, Harden expressed pride about Houston’s reaction to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which led to protests throughout the world. Floyd’s funeral was in Houston, the city where he grew up. “The way the city just, like, rallied, it was amazing,” Harden said Thursday. “I think the world saw it, how so many people could come together so close. Obviously, it was for a tragic reason, but the marching and everything we’re standing for is very powerful.”
After finishing that virtual news conference, Harden put on the Thin Blue Line mask, unaware of what it represented, he said. “It was just something that covered my whole beard,” Harden said. “I thought it looked cool. That was it.”
I’m including a look at the full mask below – it definitely looks like something a goth 14-year-old would choose for a mask, not someone trying to align themselves with the alt-right or police-supremacy movements. I think he just made an honest mistake and didn’t realize what the mask meant, truly. I wouldn’t have known it either unless it was explained to me. That being said, Black Lives Matter masks and scarves are all around! Players have been wearing those too. I wonder why he didn’t wear one of those?
Let’s be clear if James Harden thought THIS “looked cool” we still have a problem pic.twitter.com/ZbkGyDwpTb
— caitie delaney (@caitiedelaney) July 17, 2020
Mask photos courtesy of Harden’s and Houston Rockets’ social media.
I believe him. Growing up in the time of Not Fear” and anime everywhere, I buy that he’s only thinking graphically without knowing there’s a back story. I bet he will now, though.
Seeing it, I don’t think my first thought was “this is for blue lives matters” so I can buy his explanation. But I agree it’s prob not my first or second or 1000th choice for a mask to wear in public.
I believe him too. I had a sticker on my license plate with the stripe in hope of avoiding speeding tickets. I’ve had a few people I know ask me what it means.
I had no idea. And looking at it, I would still have had no idea. I can see someone liking this especially if they like skulls. Which so many do. I don’t know why, but I have friends that love that skull stuff. I like hearts and peace signs. I’m basic. lol
Lol. My son has always loved skulls and skeletons. I like owls, so I guess I’m basic, too.
I had to look twice to see that blue line flag imagery in his mask, so I could see where he made a mistake. I know enough racist cops here in Chicago who flaunt that flag — it immediately gives me a sense of dread and menace. It’s a pretty good indicator of someone being a Trump supporter, too.
I’m wondering where he got it. Did he buy it, was it given to him, was it laying around in the locker room?
My awful neighbors have it too, next to their Trump flag. Ironic, as the guy has a criminal record and the police have had to go there several times in the few years they’ve lived there. They’re trash.
I believe him. He’s not very ‘connected’ to online-y stuff…just has no interest in it, really.
I don’t get how he could not know that, but ok. (I guess it’s not blatant, but the colors are obvious. I might be ultrasenstive to the blue lives matters stuff because it enrages me.) Also, that’s a gaiter, and they come in dozens and dozens of designs, including solid colors. My husband has like 5 of them. It’s not like they are hard to find or only come with oppressive designs on them
It enrages me, too, manda. I posted above that it feels menacing to me.
I’m online all the time. I won’t say how much. Because I just won’t. This is the first time I’ve seen that image. My son could’ve come home wearing it thinking it was cool, and I’d probably say the same. Crikey. I guess each of us has to sleuth our way through life now.
I was prepared to scoff and roast him, but I can buy this. The skull and how it’s all put together my immediate thought was not “Blue lives matter”. I find skulls creepy, but that overall design is actually nice looking. However, anything pro-USA is not my jam right now. I’m disappointed in us and want us to be better, so better so you want see me wearing anything with stars and strips.
I lost respect for country and countries across the globe at a young age (once I became a student of history). I’ve never owned a flag. I’ve never worn patriotic colors. I’ve reluctantly had to be in a few parades lol, so maybe mom was right. I’ve always been a troublemaker. Whenever someone would praise our country with parroted bulletpoints, I issued an opposing statement with snark. I wish she were alive to see her daughter’s words transcend. 😁
I..l actually did the same thing. Except I bought thirty of them. My company has me buy them for our employees and the choices were plain
black, hot pink, and what I *thought* was a nifty black and blue flag (no skulls on ours). I just thought it’d be a bit more stylish.
Obviously I was mortified when they arrived and ppl explained to me that once again white supremacists have ruined a cool design for the rest of us.
It’s ironic that these people who scream about respecting the flag have co-opted the design, which I’m pretty sure goes against the flag etiquette I learned in Girl Scouts.
I lived in a desert town for longer than I would have liked, and have a lot of friends who like to go dirt-biking, out on quads, Jeeping in the mud, etc. That mask is pretty prototypical of what they wear when they go, because it fully covers their faces and protects them from getting sand and particulate matter in their orifices. The skull is totally on-brand as well. I don’t care for it myself, but there is a whole population of people who dress and accessorize themselves this way.
Okay, I believe him. It’s very 14 year old skater/biker edgy to me, not white supremacy at all. I would not have made that connection seeing this design.
I would’ve assumed Ed Hardy from the look of it. Honestly, it’s borderline funny when you think about it. Blue Lives Matter are such a f*cking joke philosophically that they’re ripping off the most basic bitch design possible to look hardcore. What a bunch of losers. They deserve to be mocked on tv for it.
I saw the design and liked it early on and it took awhile to figure it out. Seeing it as the profile pic of law enforcement friends was the key factor for me.
The one you posted isn’t a exact copy of the one he’s wearing. The one he’s wearing is the punisher type skull (no bottom jaw). So in that case, I can see if he thought it just looked like a comic or whatever.
But the police force being so obsessed with the punisher is another huge problem that’s had multiple essays written about it. Cops shouldn’t idolize someone ignoring the justice system, and It’s even brought up in some Punisher comics – Frank tells cops to stop idolizing him and to look up to Captain America and threatens to come after the police if they start doing what he does. But that doesn’t stop police officers from owning tons of paraphernalia with the punisher skull mixed with the thin blue line.
I believe it was an honest mistake. Now throw it out.
I am a cop. I didn’t know being a cop made me alt-right. I’m really disappointed with this kind of thoughtless trash talk.