Overview:
A high school teacher uses juxtaposition to contrast a crude, divisive UFC event at the White House with the joyful unity of a Knicks championship celebration, arguing America must choose between division and grace as its 250th birthday nears.
I’ve taught high school English in upstate New York for eighteen years, and today is the last day of regular classes, so I’d like to teach one more lesson before final exams begin. It will be a lesson on the literary term “Juxtaposition,” the act of placing two things side by side to highlight their contrasting differences.
Let’s start with a thought exercise…
Imagine this. After his New York Knicks dispatched the San Antonio Spurs in five, hard-fought games, securing the franchise’s first title in 53 years, series MVP Jalen Brunson took the NBA Championship Trophy, then screamed into a microphone, “Melania Trump is a prostitute.”
That would be insane. No professional athlete, on any stage, would ever say something so indecent. This is what I thought until last Sunday evening, when MMA Fighter Josh Hokit scored a knockout win over Derek Lewis at UFC 250, then stood in the Octagon with Joe Rogan, who conducted the post-fight interview, and crudely declared, “Michelle Obama is a man,” eliciting cheers from the crowd.
After Hokit disparaged Obama, Rogan said nothing, just shook his head and smiled. In retrospect, I wish Rogan had used that platform to call for unity, considering the gala was billed as a celebration of America’s founding and held on the South Lawn of the White House, a.k.a. the “People’s House.” It could’ve been Rogan’s John McCain Moment. It wasn’t. Joe Rogan is no John McCain.
When leaving the UFC event, former FBI Deputy Director and current rightwing podcaster Dan Bongino described Hokit’s “joke” as the most “unexpected and unintentionally hilarious moment of the night.”
If you’re waiting for the White House to rebuke Hokit, you’ll be waiting a long time. President Trump isn’t going to touch this. How could he? Trump has spent his political career trafficking in anti-Obama fodder. Everything from Birtherism, to imposing the Obamas faces on the bodies of orangutans for social media. Since Trump descended that golden escalator in 2015, he’s preached Us against Them, and the Obamas, in his mind, belong to the latter. Trump doesn’t quell hate. He inflames it.
Per CNN, Trump appeared to “half-smile” seconds after Hokit’s remark. Later on, in a Truth Social Post, Trump called Hokit (and the other UFC combatants) “outstanding.”
The poverty rate where I work is high. And violent crime is a common occurrence. When people ask what I’ve learned after teaching in an urban school for eighteen years, I tell them I’ve come to see how hard it is to be a black or brown person in America. And the president is making that even harder.
I was not among the bunch who opposed Trump’s UFC event. Nor did I prescribe to the predictable criticism. I thought it was a novel idea that could expose a wider audience–like me–to the sport. There were octagon girls. A Marine band. Bud Light. What could go wrong? Then it devolved into something else. It became about sticking it to libs, grifting off the Trump brand, fistfights in the cheap seats.
For a June 14th article in Variety, writer Marlow Stern described UFC 250 as, “a vulgar display of power by President Trump, who views America as one giant sandbox filled with toys for him to play with.” Stern also wrote, “At no point has the Trump presidency more closely resembled a scene out of Idiocracy, Mike Judge’s 2006 satire about a Philistine society that abhors intellectualism.”
Former ESPN host Jemele Hill equated the event to a Klan rally.
I wouldn’t go that far. But comparing Sunday evening to a MAGA rally, and suggesting a percentage of its attendees were of the Lock-Her-Up bunch, is surely accurate.
Now compare–or juxtapose–that with Saturday in New York. Strangers embracing on Bronx-bound subway cars, crowd surfing through Central Park, mobs singing Sinatra and Jay-Z (featuring Alicia Keys) in the East Village. Black and brown people, white people, liberals, conservatives, gay, straight, trans. For one glorious night nobody cared about categories or tribes. It was unity en masse. Joy on a grand scale. It was the best of us.
Did some revelers act like idiots? Absolutely. Did car windows get kicked out? Definitely. But the naysayers’ prediction that all five boroughs would burn if the Knicks won never came to pass. Not even close. Love reigned.
“People were united, truly a collection of all the colors of America,” said Alex Drake, a 34-year-old project manager for the MTA, who celebrated the win with friends in Midtown Manhattan. “Makes me proud of this very special place.”
Recent polling shows most adults (up to 80% in some polls) see America as divided, while a slightly smaller percentage believe our democracy is in danger. And division seemingly appeals to certain people. No presidential candidate in U.S. history has garnered more votes than Donald Trump. But I refuse to buy into such defeatist thinking. I saw the stream of Knicks-inspired Instagram reels. I saw what we’re made of.
As America’s 250th birthday approaches, the citizenry has a choice. We can opt for togetherness and grace or we can surrender to division and degradation.
Following the Knicks’ historic–and largely unexpected–victory, Jalen Brunson expressed gratitude. He said, “Just really thankful to have the organization, the coaching staff, my teammates, to have my back every single day.”
A lesson on juxtaposition.
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