Squires: William Rhoden chronicles '40 Million Dollar Slaves,' exemplifies '40 Thousand Dollar Rainbow Overseer'

One thing that I’ve learned in the past three years is that the people – black and white – who claimed they would have been on the front lines of the civil rights movement are delusional. Everyone believes they would be as courageous as the countless marchers who were sprayed with water hoses and bitten by police dogs.

But it’s hard to see a person too afraid to stand for the sex binary in 2023 fighting to destroy the color line in 1963.

A recent column from William Rhoden, author of the book "40 Million Dollar Slaves," demonstrates how quickly the sons of the Black Power movement have been taken captive by the “trans” women leading the rainbow brigade.

Rhoden’s article on Title IX protections for transgender athletes is framed as a fight for civil rights. Here’s how it starts:

“During a news conference before her team’s national semifinal game, LSU coach Kim Mulkey reflected on a hurtful childhood experience of being excluded because she was a girl.”

The rest of the column amplifies the same message: keeping boys who “identify” as the opposite sex out of girls’ sports is an attempt to undo 50 years of feminist progress.

Mulkey and South Carolina coach Dawn Staley are the head coaches of the last two teams to win the women’s college basketball championship. Throughout their lives both have been outspoken advocates for women’s sports and fearless warriors willing to fight against racism and sexism.

Rhoden asked them whether boys who think they are girls should be able to compete against the young women they coach. Unfortunately, in today’s hierarchy of oppression, one “phobia” trumps two “isms.” That’s why Mulkey and Staley danced around the question like two ballerinas. Both prefaced their answers by talking about wanting to be sensitive and inoffensive. These two women are so afraid of the “Impossible Women” who have rewritten the rules on gender that they think biology is bigotry.

Rhoden also spoke to Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks, the only black male head coach of a Power 5 conference women’s basketball team. Brooks' answer shows how easily the civil rights movement has been colonized by people who specialize in sowing confusion and destroying categories.

“Obviously as a black man, all the things we’ve gone through to get where we are, how could I stunt anybody’s opportunity? You can’t be closed-minded. People have been closed-minded about us for a long time, so it would almost be hypocritical if you want to shut the door because of what they are, not who they are. If they fit what you want and they can come in and be part of it, that’s fine.”

I’m not sure how any self-respecting black man could compare people who hate him because of an immutable characteristic like his skin color to those who don’t believe men can get pregnant.

It seems like the most powerful and influential women in sports and media, as well as their male allies, are hell-bent on turning "Juwanna Mann" from a comedy into a docudrama.

It is important to note that Rhoden’s central argument in "40 Million Dollar Slaves" was that black athletes had as little power in their respective sports as their enslaved ancestors had on plantations. Rhoden acknowledged the rich history of black athletes fighting for civil rights and admonished the athletes at the time to rekindle the revolutionary spirit to continue agitating for social change.

Now it’s Staley, Mulkey, and other well-paid social justice warriors in sports who are unable to shake off their golden shackles.

And for all his talk about slaves, it is William Rhoden who picks up his pen and does his job without question. His overseers at ESPN keep watch with rainbow whip in hand. He and his peers may be past their prime, but that doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose. Their main role is to punish potential runaways. In fact, they have been trained so well that they’ll even try to capture a free man.

Tony Dungy is a Hall of Fame NFL coach who is respected for breaking barriers and creating opportunities for other black coordinators and players in coaches. But his adherence to biblical sexual ethics and opposition to abortion prompted Kevin Blackistone and Dr. Harry Edwards to paint him as a bigot and white supremacist.

The owners at Disney must have been proud.

The people who think they are “speaking truth to power” are actually tools of the establishment. The “trans community” is the most protected class in this country. They are less than 1% of the population, but every institution in America has upended the basics of human biology in order to appease them. President Biden recently sent out a statement celebrating “Trans Day of Visibility” less than a week after a woman who allegedly wanted to “transition” into a man shot and killed six people – including three children – at a Christian school in Nashville.

Corporate America is just as slavish in its devotion. Bud Light recently launched a partnership with Dylan Mulvaney, the man who claims to be “transitioning” into a girl. Mulvaney has also been linked to Ulta Beauty, Kate Spade, and Tampax.

In other words, the revolution has been corporatized.

The silence of athletes, journalists, politicians, and pundits is the result of a different type of intersectionality: one that involves cowardice, politics, and greed.

There is no risk associated with Dawn Staley pulling her team out of a basketball game at BYU over allegations of racist taunts during a Duke volleyball game. Even though there was no evidence that anyone used racial slurs against Rachel Richardson, Staley got to play the role of BLM activist for a few days. But she won’t define “woman” with the same level of clarity and conviction because she fears cultural and financial backlash more than complaints from a university in Utah where 80% of students are white and an even higher percentage are Mormon.

The same spirit of cowardice is what keeps William Rhoden searching for gnats of racism while the transgender elephant in the room destroys everything it touches. Corporate America now owns the revolutionaries, and he is a faithful servant of the "Pride" Power movement.