A superstar athlete’s life is filled with tough challenges. The tightrope they tread daily with respect to political correctness is arguably the most intricate of these challenges. Michael Jordan may have had a near-perfect resume for his basketball career. But when it came to his political views (or the lack thereof), His Airness saw himself be heavily scrutinized. Particularly at the peak of his powers when the elections in North Carolina prompted his involvement.
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As made popular by The Last Dance, there was Michael Jordan’s infamous “Republicans buy shoes, too” quip – MJ’s lowlight with respect to establishing his public political persona – that came in light of the same North Carolina elections. There was a lot more to it than what met the eye. But the damage was done regardless.
The infamous statement about selling shoes led to MJ being portrayed as a cold-blooded businessman. Former NFL legend and activist Jim Brown was amongst those who couldn’t resonate with Jordan’s lack of empathy for his own community.
And despite the negative publicity and criticism from fellow athletes such as Brown, Jordan, and family might still stick to their stance to distance themselves from the political environment in North Carolina.
Michael Jordan and his family did have a political history that didn’t serve them kindly.
All criticism that flowed MJ’s way came on the back of the infamously racially charged North Carolina elections of 1990. The election came down to two candidates, Harvey Gantt of the Democrats and Jesse Helms of the Republicans.
Gantt was African American and his entourage had sought Michael Jordan’s help in campaigning. Helms was publicly anti-black and was very clearly an enemy of the African-American community. Naturally, the expectation was that MJ being a black athlete out of North Carolina would join forces with Gantt. But that wasn’t to be. However, Jordan might have had his reasons for the same as revealed by Roland Lazenby in Michael Jordan: The Life.
“Jordan had also found himself caught in another huge issue that summer of 1990 when he was asked, through his mother, to endorse the campaign of Harvey Gantt, an African American Democrat who was trying to pry the hardline conservative Jesse Helms out of his US Senate seat representing North Carolina. It was a close, racially charged campaign, made famous by Helms’s “Hands” political ad that showed a white man losing his job to a minority because of unfair racial quotas. When asked to get involved in the campaign, Jordan had famously told Gantt’s people that he couldn’t because “Republicans buy shoes, too.” Politics had not been the path to prosperity for his grandfather Edward Peoples, nor for generations of black North Carolinians, and it wasn’t a priority for Deloris Jordan or her son in 1990.
The message from the Jordans’ was clear. After having endured the after-effects of political affiliation in the past, they weren’t to be burnt again. Deloris Jordan was a firm believer in staying away from politics. And it seems Mama Jordan’s beliefs were implanted in Michael Jordan too.
Gantt eventually lost, which prompted Jim Brown’s criticism of Michael Jordan.
A generation ago, the biggest superstars in American sports were all people who made big political statements. Be it Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Muhammed Ali.
For many, Michael Jordan shying away from a situation he could have impacted made him a lesser athlete. Jim Brown, a former athlete himself, was certainly one of these.
“The response angered many and yet pleased many others. Lacy Banks and others in Chicago shook their heads. It was not, Banks would note years later, the kind of answer that Muhammad Ali would have chosen. The refusal to help Gantt, who lost the race, incensed social activist and former NFL star Jim Brown, who said of Jordan, “He’s more interested in his image for shoe deals than he is in helping his own people” recorded Lazenby of the response MJ received.
Being apolitical was what was held against Michael Jordan. Such was his stature that choosing to stay away from drama also hurt his image. No one cared whether MJ’s family had gone through a tough time in the past, owing to politics.
While the snarky remark about Republicans buying shoes didn’t help, in hindsight, knowing his perspective too, it is tough to be overly critical of His Airness. Jordan may have attained billionaire status selling shoes. But it would be too harsh to associate that with his decision to stay neutral in 1990.
