In perhaps what was Baron Davis’ biggest nationally televised performance at UCLA, CBS commentator Billy Packer watched the young point guard dunk on an opposing team’s center and described him as a fighter. Unlike dozens of Packer’s other pseudo racist, left-handed compliments, such as calling Allen Iverson a “tough little monkey,” this description was accurate.
Over a dozen years later, Davis is still fighting. As the starting point guard for the NBA’s perennial doormat, the Los Angeles Clippers, he hopes to bring respectability back to the franchise. In his downtime he teamed up with noted filmmaker Stacy Peralta to make a critically acclaimed documentary about the Bloods and Crips, only to watch Hollywood studios back away from distributing it in theaters. Any fighter likes a challenge, but those are tough odds—even for the leader of only one of two teams in NBA playoff history to ever upset a top seeded team as the lowest seeded opponent.
Luckily for basketball and Hip Hop fans, and perhaps more importantly for residents of Southern California’s gang ravaged neighborhoods, Baron is always up for a challenge, no matter the odds. In a frank conversation that covered the relationship between race and entertainment, Davis pulls no punches.
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