LAST WEEK high school senior Candace Parker won the Slam Dunk Championship at the McDonald's High School All-American game, a contest replete with young, talented male athletes. Parker, the only female contestant, became the first woman to win the title, prompting reporters everywhere to proclaim the dawn of a new era, the coming of a savior and a giant step forward for women everywhere. In fact, the only person associated with the event not focused on its historic significance was Parker herself, who said she was just happy to go out and dunk the ball. Parker's treatment by a ravenous media, hungry to paint any event in shades of race, gender or religion, is not only unfortunate but is symptomatic of a greater problem.
Anyone who watched the actual Slam Dunk Championship saw a dramatically different event than those who caught coverage of Parker's "triumph for feminism" on CNN, SportsCenter or the local news. Parker and her high school peers -- male and female -- were having a great time. There was no high drama, no battle of the sexes -- just smiles and high fives all around.
Parker's underwhelming but consistent display netted her a victory over several young men who were clearly more athletic but lacked the sense to throw down simple dunks to ensure victory before going for broke with Jordan-esque acrobatics. And when salivating reporters rushed the floor to ask her what it felt like to be the first woman to win the championship, the sheepish teenager was more interested in talking about the fun of competing than about history.
But instead of dwelling on Parker's individual achievements, the media berated her with questions about the future of women's basketball. The hype didn't end there. Journalists around the country, most of whom probably did not even watch the contest, went to town. On Saturday, San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist David Steele wrote: "It was women's basketball's version of the moon landing. And Candace Parker played the role of Neil Armstrong."
The truth is a bit more down to earth. In our era, society is so obsessed with gender, race, culture, creed and a multitude of other categories that have been imposed on us that we as individuals hardly seem to matter. The National Organization for Women, affirmative action policies and ethnic support groups all claim to tell us more about who we are and what is important to us than do our own experiences and intuitions.
When someone like Candace Parker achieves an impressive individual feat, her gender, her race and her religion are the hot topics of conversation. She is pulled apart by greedy interest groups who want to canonize her for overcoming historic oppression, or by politicians who want to use her superficial qualities to appeal to a sect of the populace they believe can be targeted by addressing generalities rather than facts.
The unsettling trend of giving absolute import to gender and race extends far beyond sports. In a less heart-warming example, media and activists spotlighted the death of James Jahar Perez last week, an unarmed man shot to death by police in Portland, Ore. Perez's death has become a major concern not because police simply should not shoot unarmed citizens without cause, but because Perez was black. While his death will be bemoaned as a tremendous setback for a racial community, the real tragedy is the loss of an individual's life and the pain inflicted upon his family.
America needs to get over its obsession with the sweeping generalizations of gender, race and culture. While it was certainly worth noting that Parker was the first woman to win a Slam Dunk Championship, and that Perez was of African-American decent, neither situation should be viewed solely based on the participants' race or gender.
Parker's victory at the McDonald's All-American game was not won by women, but by an outstanding individual who deserves to be honored for her own effort. While the battle for legal equity in America has been long and hard -- and is certainly ongoing -- we cannot allow hypersensitivity to anything related to gender, race, culture or religion to completely color our lives. Unfortunately, the media, interest groups and politicians routinely encourage Americans to overlook individuality.
When asked if she thought her performance should be taken as a sign that officials need to give women their own Slam Dunk Championship, Parker simply shook her head and said that her dream was that within 10 years, three or four women would enter the contest and that it would "not be a big deal."
Gender not a big deal?
Sounds like a slam dunk to me.
Nick Chapin's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at nchapin@cavalierdaily.com.
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