MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Rumors can spread faster than a wildfire on a windy day through a dry forest. They are almost impossible to stop if you do not get in front of them with honesty. However, when the rumors began to surface about Liz Cambage using racial slurs during a closed-door practice, they were just that, rumors.
Now those rumors have been reignited. It’s not that we didn’t hear the rumors about the tirade before. It’s not that we thought her using such language was completely out of the realm of possibility.
How could it be? The colonization of Australia resulted in horrific treatment of the Aboriginal people, and that racism is still commonplace in Australia today.
Cambage has often made it known that she was raised by her white Australian mother and doesn’t know her Nigerian father. That alone is a receipt for disdain.
Video published by the Daily Telegraph and obtained from News Corp Australia, shows Cambage issuing a very malicious and intentional elbow to Victoria Macaulay, her Nigerian opponent.
According to an anonymous Opals player who was on the court, Cambage was then punched from behind. The player recounts the incident saying, “Luckily, the coaches got out of the way in time, because the Nigerian girl hit her in the temple, and she has fallen down and taken out half the bench.” It was at that time Cambage referred to the players as “monkeys” and told them to go back to their “third world country.”
According to the Daily telegraph, one Nigerian player said, “it’s hard to be a Black Woman in this world period, no matter what country you’re in, and to have someone that’s half of what I am say those things, do you even have respect for yourself.”
Now that the video and new eyewitness accounts have surfaced, head coach/GM Derek Fisher said he was unaware of why Cambage was trending early Sunday morning, but there was nothing to address with the team.
“Those are conversations we had in free agency,” Fisher said.
He also said the team does not respond to rumors and allegations and implied that the team could move on because, “the Sparks, we were not involved. We weren’t there. The league wasn’t there or involved. So, we don’t necessarily have a response in that regard.” Fisher closed by saying Cambage was a welcomed member of the team.
Sparks forwards Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike are both Nigerian and have a younger sister Erica Ogwumike, who plays for the Nigerian team. When asked, Nneka echoed Coach Fisher’s comments saying the team put the situation behind them in the off-season, and she is not sure what the agenda is behind the allegations resurfacing.
Cambage finally addressed the incident via her Instagram page saying she is very hurt and disappointed by the accusations from the Australian media, and the accounts are inaccurate.
With the win over the Lynx, the Sparks are now 4-6. They face the Dallas Wings (5-3) on Tuesday at 7:30 PM PST at Crypto.com Arena.
