Since Caitlin Clark has entered the league, it has seemingly created a divide between ethnicities in the WNBA and among fans, but 13-time All-Star Sue Bird says that divide has been there for many years.
“The things that have held back women’s sports are racism, sexism and homophobia amongst other things,” Bird said on an episode of her podcast A Touch More. “But that is the starting point, and that is the lens with which you have to look through a lot of these things.”
Bird continued, “Racism has been impacting the WNBA well before this year. This is not a new thing,” Bird said. “In that way, I do think Caitlin’s being used as a pawn. Caitlin didn’t bring racism to the WNBA. This has been happening. And that I think is what’s been such a shock for all of us, that other people are surprised. We’ve been trying to tell you.”
Some people in the media are trying to solely blame Clark and her fans for making racism an issue within the WNBA, but Bird says it goes far deeper than that, and it’s the kind of mentality that “has to go.”
“It has to go because it’s not the Fever fans, it’s not Caitlin fans,” Bird said. “That is a large group of people. Let’s stick with the Fever for a second. That is a large group of people. And what we’re talking about, as we get into the meat of this, we’re talking about the faction of that group that is pushing racist agendas and is pushing hate and creating divisiveness online, acting as fans, acting as Fever fans, acting as Caitlin fans.”
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