Is Caitlin Clark famous because she’s white? That’s what most her distractors are trying to say as she makes an astronomical rise from high school to college and then to the WNBA as the top overall pick by the Indiana Fiver in 2024.
The 22-year-old guard, who has just been named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year, has the skills and the dedication to make it big in the professional ranks. She worked her way up.
However, she is not convinced that they are the determining factor for her rise. She thinks she has privileges, too, as a white person in America.
“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” Clark told Time.
She then went on to elaborate how her black colleagues and the players who came before her got minimal treatment despite the fact that they were the ones who built the WNBA.
A lot of those players in the league that have been really good have been Black players. This league has kind of been built on them.
The more we can appreciate that, highlight that, talk about that, and then continue to have brands and companies invest in those players that have made this league incredible, I think it’s very important. I have to continue to try to change that. The more we can elevate Black women, that’s going to be a beautiful thing.
Clark has been monumental in the rise of female basketball not just in America but in the whole world.
She is among the most searched athletes in Google and with her rise also came media mileage for the sport. She is also the most-sought endorser by brands.
There is even now a term “Caitlin Clark effect” which refers to the widespread popularity of female basketball.
What was the privileges accorded to Caitlin Clark?
Talks of Clark being favored by the general audience because of her race has been around since early 2020s.
The Athletic columnist Jim Trotter suggested before that she is popular to the mainstream because she is white, straight, and came from Iowa, a heartland state. There is racial bias behind he said.
Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson, who’s just as decorated as Clark in WNBA, suggested before that Black players like her did not get enough and deserved attention because of their skin color.
“They don’t see it as marketable, so it doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as Black women, we’re still going to be swept underneath the rug. That’s why it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”
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