"What is the truth these days? Strange times."
-- Prince, offering a few spoken thoughts in the midst of his show-concluding performance of "Purple Rain" at the Jordan Brand All-Star Weekend party at 2:30 a.m. Saturday
NEW YORK -- The compressed nature of this city means its disparities are more metaphorical than physical. It's not too far from 202 Bay St. on Staten Island to the edge of New York Harbor, presenting a view of the Manhattan skyline and all the possibilities it represents -- and all the parties and celebrity-stocked events it hosted with the NBA All-Stars in town for the weekend -- so tantalizingly close across the water.
Bay Street ends in a little loop, creating a small side street with a few stores jammed next to one another. Right next to Bay Beauty Supply is a plastic case filled with candles, teddy bears, flowers and balloons. There's a wreath affixed to the wall above it along with an American flag and a note that reads: "Dear God, Let Not this Angel Die In Vain."
This is where it ended for Eric Garner.
On Sunday morning, two men stood near the spot, undeterred by the temperatures in the teens. One was born in Brooklyn, the other in Palestine. The Palestinian-born man immigrated to Louisiana when he was 20 but left after his home was ransacked by looters in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It's less American Dream and more American Reality. And his isn't even the saddest story on the block. On July 4 he was enjoying a cookout with Garner in this same spot. Thirteen days later, Garner was dead.
This weekend, with the NBA All-Star Game in New York, star players missed an opportunity to put the spotlight back on the issues surrounding Garner's death.
It's been two and a half months since a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who applied the chokehold that led to Garner's death. Coming in the wake of a similar grand jury decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the Garner case set off protest marches in New York -- and unprecedented on-court shows of support from NBA players, who wore a T-shirt imprinted with Garner's last words, "I can't breathe," during warm-ups.
It's also been eight weeks since police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were slain while sitting in a parked car in Brooklyn, in an apparent retaliation for Garner and Brown. Their deaths proved just as divisive as Garner's and Brown's, as police officers turned their backs on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio during memorial services for what they perceived as a lack of public support from him. The wounds haven't healed, as evidenced by a police officer association president writing a letter to the Democratic National Committee recommending against holding the Democratic Convention in New York because he said the city was "lurching backwards to the bad old days of high crime" under De Blasio. (The DNC picked Philadelphia for the convention.)
And it's certainly no safer to have brown skin in America than it was when Garner and Brown lost their lives. This month alone, three Muslims of Middle Eastern descent were killed in North Carolina, and a 57-year-old man from India visiting his son in Alabama was partially paralyzed when a police officer slammed him to the ground after neighbors reported a suspicious man in the area.
Those recent events weren't here, though. And the Eric Garner story wasn't recent enough. And so it was that All-Star Weekend proceeded unencumbered by these weighty issues, undeterred by the cold. It was the usual mix of unending peripheral activities for the masses that flock to All-Star host cities and the main events played before seemingly uninterested corporate crowds at the host arenas.
The league has turned the All-Star Game into an opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the host city, such as fixing basketball courts and rebuilding homes. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this week's events would ultimately affect 1 million basketball players in the New York area. Players show up on little to no sleep and engage with kids, and the league's sponsors deliver the helpful checks. So it isn't as if the league wraps itself in a bubble every February.
But the All-Star Game is an event that takes itself too seriously to show a more serious side. There are too many sponsors, too many branding opportunities for anyone to sully the message with a real-world reminder along the lines of, say, black lives matter.
It's a weekend built around a game whose outcome is inconsequential. Yet it would be erroneous to say the entire experience is irrelevant.
"A weekend like All-Star, where it's a celebration of the game, it's also a bringing together of diverse people," Silver said Friday at an event dedicating a refurbished gym at the High School of Graphic Communication Arts. "I think we see here that it's a moment where the focus isn't necessarily on the play on the court. It's really about giving back for the league. It's about activities like we're seeing today. And it's about people coming together.
"Basketball has that unique ability, especially in a city like New York. I think it creates commonality in groups, rather than divisiveness."
Was there a consideration of specifically addressing those issues in any events or at least acknowledging them?
"We're always talking about those issues," Silver said. "In fact, at what we call our newsmaker breakfast on Saturday morning, we have a panel specifically focused on race and society."
Indeed, the NBA did bring together a panel featuring current U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Georgetown professor and author Michael Eric Dyson. While they had several enlightening things to say, the event was only for high-powered invited guests and was off the record.
Could the wise words said in a posh ballroom in the Waldorf Astoria be of any use beyond those walls? Well, there was this: On the way out, two mayors were discussing how what they learned could help advance the discussions in their hometowns.
Throughout the weekend there were constant reminders of how the greatest achievements can begin with the smallest ideas. Take the Air Jordan brand. In 1984, it was just a suggestion from Michael Jordan's agent to personalize the Nike Air products. Now it's a multibillion-dollar colossus. This weekend, they celebrated the 30th anniversary of Air Jordan with a pavilion across the street from Madison Square Garden that allowed visitors to recreate iconic Jordan shots on a court, view shoes worn by Jordan in some of his most memorable games and, of course, buy the latest products. The annual Jordan party was bigger and better than ever, with performances by Ariana Grande and Prince.
Prince went for two and a half hours, and it was during a slowdown in his signature song that he dropped the line that summed up the week. What is the truth these days? How can we be sure of anything we hear when one of our trusted news anchors is on suspension for fabricating tales? And yes, these are strange times, when there seems to be a national malaise even though the economy is recovering and the violent crime rate across the country has declined. Two of our biggest televised events this year have portrayed a country in a solemn mood, with the depressing commercials during the Super Bowl and the somber performances at the Grammys. The mood even extended to Kanye West's line debut in New York's Fashion Week, which the Washington Post's Robin Givhan described "as a collection of men's and women's athletic-leisure wear and footwear that was created in a mostly sobering, muddy palette that called to mind a dystopian world."
If our country takes its cues from its pop culture, what tone would the All-Star Game set? Usually it serves as an effective snapshot of the NBA. If that was the only thing to discuss right now, the league would be in a healthy place. No looming labor troubles, no major player misbehavior. Silver had it so much easier than Roger Goodell did in his state of the NFL speech at the Super Bowl. Goodell had to deal with questions about domestic violence and allegations of cheating by a premier franchise -- and he wasn't even asked about the pro football player whose murder trial was getting underway. Silver merely addressed tweaking the schedule, the playoff format and the draft lottery process.
It would have been nice for some of the players who made their feelings about the Garner case known so clearly across their chests in December to revisit the issue now that they were in his town. They passed.
Stephen Curry took the shot. He was raised in North Carolina, so he chose to recognize something that hit close to home and show support for the family of one of the North Carolina shooting victims by writing #CurryForDeah and #RIPDeah on the shoes he wore while winning the 3-point shootout Saturday night. It was in honor of Deah Shaddy Barakat, who was a huge Curry fan. Curry said he would send the shoes to the family, in addition to sending the message that "hopefully they know a lot of people are thinking about them."
That's why, even though Russell Westbrook won the All-Star MVP award, Curry won All-Star Weekend. It was impossible not to notice his ascension to a place among the big boys. He was here on the basis of receiving more fan votes than any other player. When the players fanned out across the city for community service activities Friday, Curry drew the plum spot with Silver and LeBron James (with the added perk of being the closest venue to the players' hotel).
"I hope to continue that trend upward to doing great things in this league," Curry said.
He showed that putting the feelings of others at the forefront -- literally at the front of his shoes -- did not mean he had to sacrifice his personal advancement. In fact, he aided it. Curry chose to honor someone from home. It's too bad no one else bothered to pay homage to someone so close to their home base for the weekend.