Hoops for a 'Just Cause'

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

By Raymond Tyler

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Sep. 21, 2011

ATLANTIC CITY — Summer in New York may  mean “Rucker Basketball” — a name derived from Rucker Park, N.Y., where many future NBA stars honed their skills on the blacktop. Here in Atlantic City, organizers of the “Just Cause Celebrity Basketball Game” hope that their celebrity hoops game will become an annual “Fall Classic.” 

The game (which will include Atlantic City Councilman Frank Gilliam) is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, at the Atlantic City High School gym. The organizers are planning a kiddie camp with several NBA and former NBA players Saturday at 11am, and the game will start around 2pm.  

Organizers say the goal of the game is to bring activism and community together in Atlantic City. NBA players and former players scheduled to play include Joakim Noah, Steve Francis and Loran Profit. On the music/entertainment side, hip-hop artists Jada Kiss and Wacka Flocka will be displaying their basketball skills. Fans of The HBO show The Wire can come out to see J.D. Williams and Jullito McCullum. 

No word just yet on what charities the money raised will be going to, however I do like that this event will bring a great afternoon of fun to the area, and that the kids who attend will remember the game for the rest of their lives. I remember when I was a teenager the Sixers and the Nets played pre-season games at Boardwalk Hall (circa 1982 and 1983, I believe). The fact that the tradition has been revived can mean nothing but good things. 

I also am encouraged about this game because this event will bring to town some people working in the entertainment business that you may never see on stage. Our young people need to see and interact with people who work in public relations, who have radio shows and newspaper columns and do everything from picking out celebrity clothes and scheduling appointments.  

I wish more local African-Americans, Latinos and other minorities didn’t have to leave town for opportunities.  

In my opinion, this hinges on three key factors. 

1. The owners of most of the media outlets here in southern New Jersey (radio, TV, newspapers) still seem to act extra careful and not very open-minded in their dealings with minorities. While I have a radio show and a newspaper column, I make no qualms about the fact that I had to fight extra hard to make my own opportunities.  

I also established myself with the media in New York City and Philadelphia before I finally made any kind of hometown breakthrough. I am also still fighting to help get more people of color and minorities in media positions in the area. 

2. Often people of color here in southern New Jersey simply do not step up to the plate and make opportunities for themselves or their children. I worked for a year in Newark and while there I never saw people so quick to make a physical appearance at a school board meeting, town hall, a newspaper building, a radio station — voicing their opinions on certain issues. If you don’t stand up for your rights and let your voices be heard, the owners of media have little to no priority to change anything. 

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