Last week, former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley was forcibly ejected from a Knicks/Clippers game after a physical altercation with Madison Square Garden security. The 54-year-old was charged with three counts of assault, one count of criminal trespassing and one count of causing a disturbance.
Earlier this week, outside the MSG arena, Brooklyn Borough President and former NYPD Captain, Eric Adams described the altercation between Oakley and security guards as “Eric Garner without the chokehold.”
Oakley was handcuffed but walked out relatively unscathed, certainly more unscathed than following a game with the 1994 Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The incident was brief, heated and caught on tape; but it wasn’t deadly; it wasn’t an abuse of power by the state; it wasn’t Eric Garner.
As a diehard Knicks’ fan, I stand with Oakley! He earned every penny of the $52 million he’s worth. His distaste for James Dolan is relatable; Dolan has done a subpar job as owner of one of the NBA’s most iconic teams. Dolan is everything wrong with nepotism (and his band JD & The Straight Shot make Smash Mouth seem like the Beatles.)
However, comments made by President Adams equating Oakley to Eric Garner were hyperbolic and minimized the tragedy surrounding Garner’s death.
President Adams service is honorable, and it shouldn’t be diminished. I commend him for co-founding “100 Blacks in Law Enforcement That Care.” Nonetheless, equating the actions of MSG security to the systemic failures of our police institutions is a political calculation beyond the pale. MSG security did not kill Charles Oakley. They acted nothing like the officers involved in Mr. Garner’s death.
Comparing Oakley to Garner dangerously understates the significance of Garner’s death and the role it played in discussing the larger issue of predatory policing in impoverished communities throughout the nation and New York City.
Police brutality is not the issue surrounding Oakley’s feud with James Dolan; this is about a corporate elite that has shown no desire to speak with respest toward a former employee. This is about Dolan and Oakley’s tainted relationship and the lack of access Charles Oakley has been given to James Dolan in order to express his concerns about the fledgling team. This is about an out-of-touch billionaire whose wallet and ego is large enough to overcompensate for his shortcomings as an owner.
President Adams also claims if a white ex-player like Bill Bradley or [the late] Dave DeBusschere or if current GM Phil Jackson were in the “same situation there would have been more of a conversation and not an incarceration.” Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Phil Jackson escorted from the building. But President Adams’ speculation is without foundation and projects an untrue reality based on hypothetical prejudice.
It’s easy to say a lot of negative things about James Dolan, but one thing that seems to be universally accepted is that he is not a racist nor a bigot, but simply ill-suited for the job he inherited from his father. Yes, he was disrespectful to Oakley who, he was quick to suggest, “May have a problem with alcohol,” but that does not mean he should be accused of perpetrating actions on par with the Garner case.
Brooklyn Borough President Adams chose to make this issue about race because race sells in politics. To infuse racial politics into the altercation at MSG is counterproductive, impetuous, and politically dishonest. As a Brooklyn resident, I feel we need new political voices that don’t succumb to the political temptation of division but commit to the less charted territory of unity.
