'Nuance' required for Brondello-Reese situation
Natalie Esquire and Terrika Foster-Brasby break down the nuance around Sandy Bordello's one-game suspension for her remarks on Angel Reese and the various perspectives of the situation.
Video Transcript
This is just a conversation that requires a lot of nuance, and you just gave us a lot of it, so I really appreciate that, Tarika, because I think people really wanna take a hard line on this either way.
And again, I just wanna bring it back to Angel, where at the end of the day, she was the offended.
And, and, and also, I don't wanna say it like, of course, I think any Black woman hearing that comment took offense until they learned more, right?
Or whatever it was.
I, you know, it- having a visceral reaction to it I think is understandable, right?
Like- Mm-hmm.
I, I, I, I started messaging my peers in the media like, "Did she actually say this?"
You know?
Trying to understand, and then like you, I also did research.
And so, it, again, it's, it's Angel is gonna feel however she feels, and she's entitled to that.
And, you know, I think when you do see people who are coming out in support of Sandy, just in terms of who she is as a person, it's because, like you said, I mean, she's been coaching in this league for almost 30 years.
I think it's, like, 27.
You know, she's been around it or involved in this league in some way for a very long time.
And, you know, I think Dawn Staley, she, like, you know, quoted her apology and said, "A real apology," you know?
And, Chastity Melvin also weighed in, and, you know, she, she just basically talked about knowing Sandy, having worked with her in the past, and that, you know, she doesn't, you know, t- from her personal experience, she just doesn't think that, you know, s- that Sandy meant this in any kind of derogatory way.
And so I'm not an expert on Australian colloquial, colloquialisms, you know?
Like, I'm not.
And so I feel like many who are trying to say like, "Well, this is what it means here, and this is what it means here," we're not from there.
We don't know.
And while we can use Google, we don't know.
We're, we're not experts on that.
So I'm not trying to change hearts and minds here, but I do think it's fair to acknowledge that there are different perspectives on this and different ways to see this.
And I will say that I do think, you know, at first I wasn't sure about the suspension, until I learned about the precedent from the league.
And y- Tarika, you know always in these kinds of matters, like, I put on my labor law- labor and employment lawyer hat, because that's the area of law that I used to practice in, so I always just look at things from, like, an employment context.
Like, this is something that happened in the workplace, and I- we've talked about it before when I talked about the league levying a suspension against Alyssa Thomas.
And w- when I get sus- a suspension, it usually has to be something pretty egregious, and also just, like, d- I also do consider, like, does this person have a, like, a track record, a history, and things like that.
So you know, a really hefty fine was sort of what I was expecting.
And so I was surprised to see the league go that, you know, go to a suspension.
But I wasn't upset about it.
I didn't think that, you know, it was, it was wrong, but I was surprised.
But then when I, you know, remembered and learned the history of, like, Liz Cambage and, and Kurt Miller and when he made remarks about her weight and that he was suspended, I'm like, oh, this is actually in line with league precedent.
And you know, so I think that's totally fair.
And, and the other part that I wanna just, say about this is that people are focused a lot on the intent of Sandy, what her intention was.
And I understand that, because if you are a Sandy supporter, you know, you wanna make it clear that she, you know, that this has nothing to do with race, if that's your position, right?
And you, you want, to, to defend her.
And that's, that's understandable.
But again, I think people have to remember that your intent doesn't matter when you offend, right?
Yeah.
So you can apologize and take accountability, which is what Sandy did, and I commend her for doing that.
Um- Yeah.
But there's still now going to be a repercussion for what you did.
And so even if we take it away from the things that make this really charged, like race, this wasn't a compliment.
I want people to be clear.
Like, saying that a player is favored right?
And that's why your player isn't getting a call and, you know, essentially calling them protected, it's still not a compliment, right?
And so it's, it's an offensive remark whether, whatever degree you wanna give it.
And so coaches have to be mindful how they're speaking about players of other teams.
And so regardless, there was an offense.
She said something inappropriate, which is how the league framed it when they, when they handed out the, the, the one-game suspension and they put out their statement.
She said something inappropriate, and as a result she has to serve, you know, she had to serve a suspension for it, and she did, and she was not available last night to coach the Toronto Tempo.
And I think the suspension was appropriate.
And you know, Becky Hammon weighed in on it, also lending words of support to, to, s- to Sandy.
But she said something about, you know, just kind of wanting to get back to basketball.
And Angel Reese also alluded to that too.
Like, she said at the end of her statement that this league is growing in a certain way and we wanna keep it there, and so, you know, we don't wanna have to keep dealing with things off the court, you know?
Yeah.
But when they do, when we do have to deal with them, how you approach it and how you respond to it, and how the league reacts, and how the players react, right?
All of that matters, and I think in this situation Sandy addressed it right away.
Yes, she did She issued the apology right away.
Also, she did reach out.
We learned, you know, she did some post-game media availability.
Not post-game, I'm sorry.
She did some media availability, at practice, I wanna say the next day.
And visibly, Tsareka, she looked really emotional when- Absolutely when- Yeah you know, like this may not even be doing it justice, 'cause like if you're like zoomed in and you're close on her, I mean she really, really, looked pretty emotional.
You could tell she probably had been crying.
And, but she did let us know that she reached out.
She tried to reach out.
She said, "Look, Angel doesn't really know me."
And so, you know, she reached out to those powers that be at Atlanta to see if they can have a conversation.
So it didn't sound like that they had a conversation.
Angel didn't say whether or not she would.
So who knows if the two will talk.
But, I thought all of those things were good things that Sandy did.
And the players in the league are gonna be having a conversation around a number of things, including, you know, the, the Alyssa Thomas situation I'm sure, this situation, the online harassment and bullying that comes from betting.
And so th- that conversation I believe is supposed to be taking place, today, Tsareka.
Don't know the time, but it's gonna be happening at some point today.
It's, my understanding is that it's gonna be a virtual conversation.
So, this is gonna be addressed, and we'll probably hear more on it.
But in this situation, I do believe the league acted appropriately.
I believe Sandy responded properly.
And, you know, I just, again, Angel Reese is a player who already deals with a lot.
Yeah.
You know, it was very gracious of her to, to acknowledge Sandy's apology, to address it and say, "Look, I wanna move on from this, and I don't wanna talk about this any further."
So I think we take our lead from Angel.
And, and- 100%.
I just- I- If I could say just one final thing- Of course and then this is me moving on from it.
I know that there are a ton of people who will continually say, you know, we're always talking about race.
I don't mean like you and I, Natalie, I just mean in general.
We're always talking about race.
There's always a conversation about race.
Everything that everybody says is racial.
Everything that everybody says is racist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But I hear that a lot from people who've never, ever, ever, ever had to deal with racism.
And you cannot tell a people who have systemically, physically, emotionally, have had to de- mentally have had to deal in one way or another with racism for over 400 years.
And so instead of making the conversation about, "Why you guys always bringing up race?
Why is it always about race?"
Maybe try to find some understanding as to why the reaction is typically about race.
Right.
Right?
And in every scenario, you're absolutely correct.
In every scenario it isn't about race.
But try to find some understanding as to why 90% of the time it is, and that's where the focus needs to be.
Try your best, and this is to all the people who are watching who are not Black, who are not indigenous, who are not African-American, who've not had to deal with some form of racism or prejudice-ness in this way.
Try to find some understanding as to why it's about 90% of the time about race.
And, and not so much focusing on, "Why do you people always make it about race?"
It's not like we wake up in the morning thinking, "Today somebody's gonna be racist."
But unfortunately, so many of us, myself included, Natalie included, have had to deal with it that it is so hard to not think.
And the precedence has been set, and the trail has been set, and the evidence has been there that more often than not it is.
So a- again, I repeat, I don't think Sandy is racist.
I don't think that was her intent.
But that doesn't mean her impact wasn't the same.
And Angel, being offended is warranted if that's how she felt.
But just th- when you think about that, just give people grace, and understand that like, yes, 90% of the time people that look like us have to deal with race, and, and it's, and that's just the way that it has been.
And we don't want it to be that way, but that's just the way that it's been, that's the way that it is.
And so maybe look and focus on why that's the issue, and not necessarily trying to call out every single time.
This is a league that is predominantly Black.
It is a league that is predominantly LGBTQ+.
There are going to be people who are going to say racist, hateful things.
So you can't continue to say, "Why is it always about race?"
Because nine times out of 10 it typically is.
Absolutely.
And I, I hate to ever add on to anything when you preach a gospel, but just remember that And that's why if there are some who are still left skeptical, that's valid too because of what, you know, people in marginalized communities experience.
And so you, I mean, quite frankly, I, if you haven't experienced it, I, I don't really care to have your opinion on it.
That's how I feel in general.
And so again, taking your- If you haven't experienced it, be thankful.
Yes.
Thankful that you've never had to experience it.
Like be thankful.
Yeah.
So like I said, we're gonna take our lead from Angel Reese here.
And for now we're gonna move on from this unless there's further that comes.
But appreciate everyone who has joined, and, even if you've weighed in online.
And, Tsareka, thank you for joining me.
I, you know, I always appreciate your perspective on these types of conversations.
Appreciate you guys.
Thank you for tuning into the WNBA on NBC.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss out
