Why I Wear a Simple Red Jersey

If you follow sports at all, then you’ve probably heard the explosive comments caught on tape of NBA owner Donald Sterling. He’s owned the Los Angeles Clippers since 1981 and has had a long and checkered history of embarrassing incidents. The latest is an audio recording of him making racist comments to his girlfriend. According to this alleged phone conversation, Donald Sterling doesn’t like blacks. This wouldn’t be the height of irony if he didn’t own an NBA team in a league predominately African-American.

So, that’s the latest scandal that broke a few days ago. All eyes were on the Clippers (and their African-American players) to see how they would respond. In all reality, there is not much they can do other than condemn the comments of their racist owner. Yet for the pre game warmups of this weekend’s playoff game, the Clippers team did something symbolic to show their solidarity: they did their pre game warmups with their jerseys turned inside out. No players names, no team name. Just a simple red jersey. The unspoken message was clear: they did not support the comments of the owner of the Clippers, the team they currently played for. They communicated the message that they were (African-American) men first, basketball players second, and Clippers third. With their limited options, I thought it was a classy move.

In many ways, my church chooses to wear a simple red jersey. We’re a Baptist church that doesn’t have the name “Baptist” anywhere visible at our church. You can’t find it on our sign, our website or our letterhead. In the 21st century, Baptists are unfortunately known more for what we’re against than what we’re for. People associate “Baptist” with bad church experiences, hypocrisy, tradition, intolerance (anti-homosexual), Westboro. Too many see the name “Baptist” and come to a conclusion before they even walk through the door.

So we took the name “Baptist” off of our church. We wear a simple red jersey. We want to be known as a Christian church first, Baptist second. We want people to come to a conclusion about us after they walk through our doors, not before. I am a Baptist, but it’s not on my jersey. I wear a simple red one.