Core Post 1 - Kobe Bryant & The Fault of Liveness

I was never the best athlete. Shit, I was never the best gym student. I grew tired very quickly, never really comprehended the rules and always questioned, “why are we even doing this?” Despite my athletic incompetence, there was always one ritual that I could partake in. That is taking a crumbled piece of paper and throwing, as if you are at the free throw line into a trash bin while simultaneously yelling, “KOBE!” Kobe Bryant was not only the cultural signifier for my non-existent hoop dreams, but Kobe was a Black man that other Black kids could see themselves as. He provided not only hoop dreams, but dreams period.  

That is why the news of his death, alongside his daughter and seven others in a helicopter accident is so damn tragic. What was even more tragic was the media coverage of the incident that made a lot of folk consider the faulty nature of “liveness.” From ABC misreporting that all of his children were onboard to a white news reporter “accidentally” referring to the Los Angeles Lakers as the n-word to the families of the victims not even knowing about this tragedy until TMZ (which needs to be eradicated) reported it, “liveness” failed us yesterday.

One example that deserves to be explored was the scheduled NBA games that were taking place. It was heartbreaking to see athletes on the sidelines and during the games cry so deeply over their idol. It was sickening to publicly watch these men grieve and still be required to perform. It is a fact that majority of the players in the league are Black. The social and structural dynamics between Black men and their display of grief have always been surrounded by a public viewing. A public look at the vulnerability of the Black body that is still expected to perform for a system that is bound by whiteness, capitalism and the expectation of “liveness.” I couldn’t help but to mourn even more deeply while watching those men exert their physical prowess and break down in emotion at the same damn time.

Although there was a strong demand for the NBA to cancel the games, they did not. Most of them opted for an elongated moment of silence. But that isn’t enough. The dynamics of their grief being seemingly ignored is all too often for the display of Black bodies on small screens. Blackness has always had to mourn publicly, never given the opportunity for a private healing. Moments like these always remind me that these structures, including broadcast television, not only profit off of the “spectacular-ness” of our bodies, but also off of the deep cries of our sorrow.