Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted a since-deleted Tweet on October 4: “Fight for freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.”
That tweet was in reference to the protests that have been going on in Hong Kong since March. Hong Kong is protesting the Chinese autocratic government. The protestors have been calling for democracy and civil rights, even calling on President Donald Trump for support.
Hong Kong is a city that is part of China but has liberties and civil rights people living on the mainland do not have. That political situation is known as “One country, two systems.” Two days later, Morey tweeted an apology for his democracy-supporting tweet.
On the other side of China, in the province Xinjiang, a minority Turkic ethnic group known as the Uyghurs are being detained in internment camps. 10% of the Uyghur population is being kept in the camps against their will and are facing religious persecution for being Muslim.
The Chinese Communist Party believes that “these centers are a crucial part of its effort to counter terror, extremism and separatism.” These camps scream “human rights violation.” Some NBA attendees were recently kicked out of a game for holding a sign that said “Google Uyghurs.” Their sign was confiscated by an NBA official who said they were not allowing any political signs.
A CNN sports reporter was shut down when she asked Houston Rockets point guard James Harden to comment on the social issue of China.
The NBA is trying to silence its officials, fans and players. It doesn’t want its players or people at games speaking out on this issue. What does the Chinese Government have on the NBA? Money.
The NBA audience of China is 500 to 650 million people, out of a total population of 1.4 billion — that’s nearly half of the country. There’s an estimated $4 billion per year on the line for the NBA— and the Chinese government will not hesitate to ban the NBA and make it impossible to watch, as they have done with Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and certain video games. They’ve even banned Peppa Pig.
Some people are calling for Morey to be fired as he triggered this issue with his Tweet. Some, however, just want him to apologize and don’t want to see anything bad happen to him. The national interest is important to most Chinese citizens; some of them may even support a ban of the NBA at this point.
While the U.S. has some of the most liberties when it comes to free speech, China has some of the strictest speech laws in the world. When industries in the United States are reliant on other countries for revenue, it creates a chilling effect on the members of the NBA and those in the industry, since they are under the threat of being pulled from China and could possibly lose billions of dollars in the process.
No industry in the United States should bend the knee to any country, especially one that is denying human rights or putting people in concentration camps for their religious beliefs. The NBA is silencing its participants on those human rights issues if it means more money in its bank.
The NBA is making the United States look like fools on the world stage by letting China censor it. If the NBA won’t talk about it, then Americans should remind the NBA of the free speech that we have and bring these issues to the attention of the world.
Mikayla Rochelle is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. What are your thoughts? Tell Mikayla by tweeting her at @mikayla_roch.
