I was not only on the original DTB, but was at the party where it was conceived. The team was going to play at Fools’ West, and right away I knew that I was going to play on it. In his classic work “The Souls of Black Folk,” W.E.B. DuBois speaks of a double consciousness that Black people in this country have, a viewing of the world through two sets of eyes: their own as African-Americans, and the eyes of the white world which they navigate.
I have often thought of this concept when contemplating what it’s like to be a person of color who plays Ultimate. I played primarily in the 90s, when people of color in the sport were scarcer then they are today. To be the only African-American on the field at any given point in time was not a rarity. That was an isolating and alienating experience. I loved the sport, and I loved all the teammates with whom I played (loved, not liked), but I also knew that there was a significant aspect of my being that the vast majority would never fully understand.
The trade was simple: play a sport I love in exchange for spending most of my free time in a predominantly (almost completely) white space. Playing with DTB was an opportunity to not have to make that trade, so I jumped at it. To be surrounded by people who had shared the experience of feeling marginalized while playing the sport they loved was a balm like I had never experienced. It’s not insignificant that the very first DTB played at April Fools’ West. For a number of years an exclusively Jewish team called Matzo Balls had been playing at the tournament. A couple of years prior, an all-Catholic team had played at the same tournament. I have never heard of anyone criticizing either of those teams.
So when I hear that members of a supposedly enlightened community have an issue with the existence of DTB, I am puzzled as to why that is. I have a theory. The very existence of DTB is a challenge to the notion of color-blindness, to the idea that race no longer matters in this country. And many people are uncomfortable with such a challenge, because that challenge means they have to confront their own privilege.
For those who might say DTB is some sort of overreaction or is unnecessary, I would encourage them to devote their lives to an activity that requires them to be one of a sprinkling of white people in a sea of people of color; to spend week in and week out playing, practicing, and training in that world; to go to parties where there are very few (if any) other white people; and to do this for several years—over a decade for many, perhaps even two.
