The 44 Percent: Angel Reese vs. Caitlin Clark, South Florida proms & NIL

Sports often provide a reflection of society.

That’s why I love them so much. They can reveal who we – as a community, as a country, as a people – truly are.

Which brings me to Caitlin Clark. On Saturday, the Indiana Fever and the first overall pick faced the Chicago Sky and Clark’s collegiate rival Angela Reese. Towards the end of the third quarter, Clark was on the wrong side of a hip-check courtesy of Reese’s teammate Chennedy Carter. A foul was not called at the time yet the WNBA did upgraded the play to a Flagrant 1 foul two days later.

Since then, the sports media world has gone ballistic. The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board compared the play to criminal assault. Stephen A. Smith talked about protecting “the golden goose.” ESPN’s Pat McAfee ranted about the importance of Clark’s success to that of the WNBA (albeit also with a crude description of the Fever guard as a “white b****”).

Was Carter’s hip-check a basketball play? Absolutely not. But the only reason this is a big deal is because it involves Clark. As Andscape’s David J Dennis noted before the hip-check heard round the world, the media has very clearly coddled Clark.

The question then becomes why. And it’s apparently obvious: Clark is white. She’s bringing a bunch of eyeballs to the WNBA. She’s good. But Reese, an NCAA champion, All-American and SEC Player of the Year, is no slouch either.

So why is it that when virtually the same thing happened to Reese against the New York Liberty, there was no uproar? Where were First Take segments? Where were the people saying she’s being bullied? Or what about when she was virtually choke-slammed to the ground against the Connecticut Suns?

Nowhere to be found.

This is not surprising. The double standard that exists for Black women – the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected people in America, to paraphrase Malcolm X – is one of the most troubling aspects of America. I wrote about it more than a year ago after Reese was chastised for hitting Clark with the “You Can’t See Me,” a move the then-Iowa superstar used earlier in the 2023 NCAA tournament, in the national championship game.

The truth of the matter is that this is what happens in professional sports. If you’re a rookie, especially one as highly touted as Clark and Reese, people will want to test you. They want to see if the attention is worth it. Rookies get pushed around. That’s just part of the game. Even WNBA legend Diana Taurasi acknowledged this was going to happen months before it actually did.

Although a clip of Reese cheering when Carter hip-checked Clark did make the rounds on social media, what can’t be missed is the Sky forward’s subsequent comments describing the media’s animosity toward her since that 2023 championship game. And while many have taken her words out of context, what the Baltimore native more poignantly appeared to speak to is that very double standard she faces every time she steps on the court.

“Growing the game,” Reese said Monday, “everybody’s going to be treated the same and should be treated the same.”

The same goes for America, Ms. Reese, the same goes for America.

INSIDE THE 305

‘Everybody wants to go viral’: How these Miami high schools are taking prom to new levels:

South Florida won prom.

Point. Blank. Period.

The proof is in the outfits (shoutout Booker T. pulling out the mascot masks), the rides (the 1960s Rolls Royce at the West was just *chef’s kiss*) and the price tag (big up Mr. Kenneth Grant for dropping more than $21,000 on his baby girl).

Try again next year, rest of the country.

High school athletes in Florida can now profit from their fame. Is that a good thing?:

It’s no secret the Sunshine State produces some of the best football talent in the country. Now, student-athletes across all sports can earn money off their name, image and likeness (NIL).

Mandarin High School Jaime Ffrench Jr. is already in the game with a deal.

The question now becomes: who gets signed next?

OUTSIDE THE 305

Trump VP contender suggest Jim Crow had some benefits:

Rep Byron Donalds (R-FL) had some very telling things to say about Jim Crow on Tuesday.

“You see, during Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” Mr. Donalds said. “During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — because Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively.”

This sounds a bit familiar.

Didn’t Florida’s Board of Education enact history standards that said Black enslaved people benefited from their bondage? As the New York Times best-selling author Michael Harriot alluded to on X, the idea that Jim Crow was beneficial to Black people is a farce.

“It presupposes that Black people were ASKING to go to white schools and live in white neighborhoods when, in fact, we wanted EQUAL schools and to live WHEREVER WE WANTED,” Harriot wrote, adding that the disenfranchisement element of Jim Crow laws was far worse because they “were about restoring WHITE POWER. How can anyone know what Black voters wanted under Jim Crow if they couldn’t vote? UNLESS… If Byron Donalds believes that white people know what’s better for Black people, he’s an ACTUAL white supremacist”

And Donald Trump is reportedly considering this man as his running mate.

Welcome to America.

New Orleans graduates as valedictorian despite homelessness:

Black. Homeless. From the Deep South.

Elijah Hogan had the odds stacked against him. But on May 24, the 19-year-old received his diploma from Walter L. Cohen High School and was named valedictorian for having the highest GPA in his graduating class, according to CNN.

“I thought they were mistaking me for someone else, but when I looked at it and I was shown evidence that it was me, I was in awe, like, I was jaw dropped,” said Hogan, who was born in New Orleans and raised mostly in Houston.

Hogan had been homeless for the last year and a half after his grandmother’s landlord gave them 30 days notice. His grandmother went into elderly care while he went to the Covenant House, a New Orleans-based shelter for young adults. He credited the support system at Covenant House for helping him finish high school.

And the news gets even better: in the fall, Hogan will attend Xavier University in New Orleans.

Don’t we just love Black excellence?

HIGH CULTURE

Brother Marquis, member of groundbreaking Miami rap group 2 Live Crew, has died:

RIP to the legendary Brother Marquis.

Aside from penning some of 2 Live Crew’s most iconic songs, the Miami transplant apparently also coined the iconic phrase “I Got 99 Problems but a b**** ain’t one.” Even better, he apparently first heard it in Overtown. Black Miami for the win once again.

Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.