Controversial White House invitation points to glaring institutional disparities in sports
On Sunday, Apr. 2nd 2023, the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85, clinching the championship title of the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament. What followed was a series of shocking political events that ultimately pointed toward the undue societal vehemence imposed upon Black female athletes.
Following the impressive win, First Lady Jill Biden issued a statement inviting not only the LSU Tigers, but also the game’s losers, the Hawkeyes, to the White House. The practice has been an irregular tradition since 1976, when the Indiana University men’s basketball team was invited by President Gerald Ford. Since then, there has been no clear-cut routine for this invitation, other than it being granted to the winners. Subsequently, Biden’s sudden insistence that the losing team visit alongside the rightful invitees presented a number of questions from casual fans to sports buffs alike.
Biden’s press secretary Vanessa Valdivia took to Twitter almost immediately, attempting to clarify Biden’s suggestion as one ushering all female athletes toward nationwide appreciation in the wake of the patriarchal struggles they all must face: “Her comments in Colorado were intended to applaud the historic game and all women athletes,” the tweet reads. “She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers on their championship win at the White House.”
The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP) and LSU star Angel Reese was quick to express her disillusion with the First Lady’s statements, initially refusing the invitation. Reese had already faced an onslaught of backlash from a slew of sports journalists due to her frequent taunting gestures toward opponents—a practice exhibited by many male athletes, as well as by some players of the very losing team Biden wished to honor.
Reese was rightfully peeved by the First Lady’s flippant suggestions; LSU is a majority-Black team, and Iowa majority-White. Had LSU lost the tournament, their perceived “wrongful” behavior—spirited, heat-of-the-moment acts exhibited by most athletes—would no doubt have barred them from the same accommodating treatment.
Perhaps more aggravating is the public response to Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s star player who has refused to accept Biden’s invitation; while Clark’s response is commendable, the overwhelming support she has received from journalists contrasts the controversy brought upon by Reese’s wholly valid suggestion of racial bias within the sports world. By uplifting acts of vague activism from white players, journalists who claim to support Reese and the LSU team only expose their underlying biases toward White actions in the face of anti-Black injustice.
Ultimately, Reese—who was never in the majority in her refusal to attend the White House event on her school’s behalf—acquiesced to the invitation, likely under the assumption that Iowa would not be in attendance. In conversation with Sport Center’s Randy Scott, she stated plainly: “I’m a team player, I’m gonna do what’s best for the team.”
While the situation has ostensibly been resolved, Reese’s outspoken boycott attempt is an emblem for the unique struggles faced by Black women at large, and specifically athletes. While Biden’s comments may seem trivial to many, their noxious undertones speak to the larger issue of casual racism and misogyny against talented athletes; the ordeal should act as a serious wake-up call to athletic institutions, managers, journalists, and fans.