Lamar Odom says the Phoenix Suns gorilla is racist. I disagree

Former NBA star Lamar Odom, who calls himself a “woke young Black man,” says the Phoenix Suns’ gorilla mascot is racist.

Good for him for speaking his mind.

I’m a year older than the 43-year-old Odom, and also Black, but I don’t see it.

Odom made the comment on the “Bootleg Kev Podcast.”

“I feel bad for Suns fans,” Odom said. “Y’all ain’t gonna get what you probably deserve, probably until you change the mascot.”

As a Black man, I disagree (and that's OK)

The host, Kev, who hails from Phoenix and hosts a hip-hop radio show on Power 98.3, asked Odom whether he thought there were some “racial connotations with the Suns’ gorilla.”

“Come on, bro,” Odom said. “The thing that’s funny is that they kinda like slid that one by for all these years and nobody, like, says anything about that.”

“It is random,” the host replied.

“Gorillas? In the desert? You can’t find any,” Odom said. “You could probably find a cactus. … and it’s basketball, bro? It’s just like, come on. … It’s not good representation because (Arizona was the last state) to recognize Dr. King. Come on, man.”

Again, I’m glad he said it, even if I disagree.

I’ve been Black my whole life, as has Odom. I grew up in the Midwest. He’s from New York. I’m a normal-sized human. He’s nearly 7-feet-tall. I’ve done well for myself professionally, but he’s seen more money in one season than I’ve seen in my life.

Given these distinctions, and myriad others, why should we have the same opinions, even on an issue as important as anti-Black racism in America?

Suns' gorilla isn't racist. He's amusing

For me, the gorilla has been nothing but a source of amusement, especially in the days when Robert Sarver and his general manager Ryan McDonough were putting a team of 20-year-olds on the floor who were so immature that they couldn’t even win enough games to surpass their ages in an 82-game season.

I’d be sitting there watching Dragan Bender launch bricks while Josh Jackson tried to attack entire teams by himself. The first Suns game I covered, the diminutive Tyler Ulis ended up guarding the towering Dirk Nowitzki near the free-throw line. Ulis’ head was somewhere near Nowitzki’s waist. And the audience, all several dozen Suns diehards in attendance, chuckled like the laugh-track on an old sitcom.

It was horrible.

'Light-skinned'?Suns shed light on facing colorism in basketball culture

In those days, I’d find myself praying for a break in the action (if you can even call it “action,” watching the home team getting walloped by 20, 30 and even 50 points). Because sometimes during breaks, the arena crew would sprint out with the trampoline and giant landing pad, meaning the gorilla was going to bounce up and soar 15 or 20 feet in the air to throw down a few “NBA JAM” video game-style dunks.

(In fact, I’m surprised I don’t remember the old cheat code that would unlock the gorilla as a playable character on the 1990s arcade classic.)

This is what real racism looks like

For me, racism is the reality that Black people need laws like the CROWN Act to protect them from discrimination at work and school for wearing their hair in natural styles, rather than using damaging and expensive perms and presses to confirm to the norms of white society.

For me, racism is the reality that it takes video evidence to get people to wake up to the fact that Black people sometimes get choked to death by police during routine encounters – and that simply pointing this out is an invitation for conservatives to engage in “whataboutism” by asking why Black people don’t speak up about gang killings in minority neighborhoods, despite the reality that we do.

For me, racism is in the reality that there are and have been so few Black senators, governors, vice presidents and presidents, despite the reality that we’ve been here from the nation’s inception. (And my Native American brothers and sisters have every right to be even more frustrated and angry than I am in this regard.)

For me, racism is the reality that I get pulled over so frequently that I need to budget for trumped up tickets that I’d never be able to disprove in court.

For me, the mascot is just a mascot. The Philly Fanatic has nothing to do with Pennsylvania. Alabama sports teams are represented by elephants. And the franchise where Odom became a household name is called the “Lakers” even though Los Angeles is by the ocean.

Still, I’m glad Odom made his point. He’s entitled to his opinion, based on his experiences as a Black man.

Just as I’m entitled to mine. They don’t need to be the same, just because we happen to be from the same race.

Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Lamar Odom thinks the Phoenix Suns' gorilla is racist. I disagree