Not for men only Women refs in the NBA Now for baseball
Jr, E J Dionne
E.J. DIONNE, Jr. OF SEVERAL MINDS NOT FOR MEN ONLY Whistle-blowing as a unisex skill Two views about America's problems with race and gender were upended by two women with the guts to referee in...
...As baseball owners debate all their contorted schemes for making the national pastime more popular, they might take the simple step of giving us a few women umps...
...The answer of this camp is to declare the problem of discrimination solved, to toss out affirmative action and to cease talking about race, gender and "past injustices...
...2997, Washington Post Writers Group...
...If players cross the line, they will receive a technical foul...
...If they can referee, they can referee no matter what sex they are...
...But saving the best of affirmative action is worth doing, as Palmer and Kantner have shown us...
...They worked their way up...
...As Amy Shipley reported in the Washington Post, Charles Barkley of the Houston Rockets snapped recently: "I don't think women should be in the Army, and I don't think they should be NBA refs...
...You bet...
...Our focus now is to referee in the National Basketball Association to the best of our ability...
...Ultimately, affirmative action is about helping individuals take full advantage of their skills...
...This summer, Kantner served as the supervisor of officials in the Women's NBA, and Palmer was a ref there in its inaugural season...
...In its extreme forms, it would retreat into race, gender, and ethnic enclaves where "diversity" becomes not a description of how varied we are but a prescription for organizing the United States as a collection of tribes...
...And now for baseball: No game needs a fresher set of eyes...
...A third view might be called "liberal," if that word were not so unfashionable...
...It shares the first camp's belief that the United States has made great progress in beating back prejudice...
...Confrontation is part of being a referee," said Palmer...
...The women might then launch their own affirmative-action campaign to convince their guy colleagues to agree on one strike zone for all...
...NBA officials had plenty of opportunity to watch them perform...
...Of course, these are "ideal types," as the sociologists say, and thus oversimplify...
...It's also hopeful...
...These are tough women...
...Like many who break barriers, Kantner and Palmer want to be individuals, not symbols...
...Seeing talent, the NBA invited both to its referee summer training program...
...Yet they also hope other women will take heart from their success...
...It holds that no one should be reduced to his or her race, ethnicity, or gender...
...The other camp sees America as so hopelessly racist and sexist that only the most rigorous forms of affirmative action will keep prejudice at bay...
...But with the second camp, it believes this progress cannot be taken for granted, that some pressure is still needed to fight discrimination, that individuals advance by combinations of individual effort and collective assertion...
...If one of the aftereffects is that women are given opportunities...
...The point of affirmative action is not to create piles of "preferences" for presorted groups, but to acknowledge that prejudice requires specific remedies beyond standard operating procedure...
...The NBA took an "affirmative" step in breaking with past traditions to give these women a chance...
...That's where the NBA's new women refs come in...
...I don't think Violet or I would ever say our intention is to be trailblaz-ers," said Kantner...
...But I bet you recognize them...
...Kantner officiated in four women's national championship games in the NCAA, while Palmer has worked the last two women's NCAA championships...
...Will they face challenges and stereotyping...
...That's easier in the military and in sports, where rules can be clear and advancement patterns carefully worked out...
...obviously we're in favor of that...
...Thanks to Title IX, requiring fairer public spending on women's school sports, and to cultural changes that lead us to take women's sports more seriously, Palmer and Kantner got reffing opportunities that caught the eye of the NBA...
...They can take this-and more...
...Getting tossed from a game should convince the rude and recalcitrant that women refs have the same authority as men...
...If Palmer and Kantner rose on merit and without lawsuits, their skills were able to shine through because of the aggressive efforts by advocates of women's rights and women's sports...
...One view holds that America has become race- and gender-obsessed, quota-ridden, politically correct to a fault...
...OF SEVERAL MINDS NOT FOR MEN ONLY Whistle-blowing as a unisex skill Two views about America's problems with race and gender were upended by two women with the guts to referee in the National Basketball Association...
...But Jordan got with the program this week...
...Nobody doubts that Violet Palmer, thirty-three, and Dee Kant-ner, thirty-seven, got their jobs on merit...
...In a preseason game, Michael Jordan complained Kantner got in his way and his fellow Chicago Bulls seemed to try to trip her...
Vol. 124 • November 1997 • No. 20
