Why Krause Killed the Bulls: Sports and White Supremacy
Visual art is how I choose to express most of my thoughts, but I felt like writing. To understand the insidious mechanics of white supremacy, let’s just look at the deliberate dismantling of the 1990’s Chicago Bulls. I am intentionally using sports to make this point because, let's be clear, after guns, sports is what white culture loves the most.
As the Bulls pursued their sixth championship, with their leader, Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player on the planet and a proven winner. However, their fate rested in the hands of General Manager Jerry Krause. The popular narrative is that Krause struggled with "little man syndrome," and while that psychological complex was surely present, the deeper, unspoken truth is rooted in racial resentment. Krause simply could not stomach the reality that niggers, and I use that specific word intentionally here, because niggers were receiving more credit than him.
No individual has done more to elevate and globalize modern sports than Michael Jordan. But he is a Black man, and that fat little jealous white man couldn't fucking take it. No matter how meticulously Krause worked to construct those championship rosters (for which he has always been properly credited), his ego and jealousy over the players receiving the glory was too much. I don’t give a fuck how much of a genius you are at assembling the pieces; it is the players who must step onto the court and execute the vision. If Michael Jordan were white, management would have let that dynasty ride until the wheels fell off.
This dynamic forces us to confront how people still struggle with the enduring reality of racism and white supremacy. Ignorance, in its purest form, is easily understood: it is a lack of knowledge, education, information, or awareness of a particular subject. It is deeply annoying, but it is not inherently a crime. However, to know you are ignorant of these systemic realities and actively decide to remain that way speaks volumes about your character. It shifts from a passive lack of awareness to an active, willful complicity.
Returning to the historical precedent of the Bulls, there is no logical argument, whether from a business, financial, or athletic perspective, that justifies dismantling a successful, championship winning team rather than keeping it intact to chase more rings. Hadn't they won the right to dictate their own end? Franchises spend decades desperate to build dynasties; when have you ever seen an owner or general manager actively sabotage their own winning formula? We need only look at how white greatness is accommodated to see the double standard: management didn’t kick Tom Brady out of New England; he was afforded the agency to leave when he wanted to go.
The premature destruction of the Chicago Bulls dynasty reveals a colder, harsher historical truth about power in America. No matter how massive the platform, no matter how unprecedented the financial and cultural success, these racist white power structures will always seek to assert their dominance. To put it plainly, these motherfuckers would rather destroy one of the greatest sports dynasties of all time, than let niggers shine, one more time.
