The Impact of White Privilege on the Popularity of Caitlin Clark

Written by Alberta Parish 

Angel Reese & Caitlin Clark 

As an athlete who has benefitted from white privilege, Caitlin Clark currently sits at the top of the pyramid in the world of the WNBA, as she struggles against the physicality of a league dominated by African American women. This season, Caitlin Clark's shooting percentages have been atrocious even as she has recently received an ESPY WNBA Player of the Year award while missing half her games due to injuries. She has failed to live up to her superstar status while another superstar Angel Reese has elevated her status. How I came to know of these two superstars was really a fluke. ESPN featuring highlights of the Iowa vs. LSU game, and White America in conjunction with social media descended upon Angel Reese for giving a white woman the ring finger. 

The first tell-tale sign, blatantly obvious sign that I did not show up to Iowa City on February 15, 2024 to see Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes solely as a member of the press or a journalist was that I never sought press credentials at any given time for that event although a fan later suggested that next time I should apply for press credentials. She believed that I was a journalist in Iowa City on February 15, 2024 to cover Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes, and the city. I did write an article on my trip to Iowa City but not as a journalist. Prior to that, people knew of my body of work regarding articles and reviews I'd written about Caitlin Clark and Iowa Hawkeye games. So naturally, they'd assume that I was a member of the press or a journalist. Maybe, that was the reason Caitlin's brother Colin came running up the stairs after the Michigan vs. Iowa game to meet me. It also happened to be the same day Caitlin became the new NCAA all-time leading scorer. But unbeknownst to me around that same time is that many content creators were actually getting huge pay days cloutchasing and grifting off Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Many content creators on X, YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, etc. made their living cloutchasing the growing popularity and game of Caitlin Clark around the same time that I began following Clark's career at Iowa. My intentions were simple: learn what I can about the game and the players. So, I started watching NCAA women's hoops because of Caitlin Clark. The grifters and sycophants who had been following the Iowa Hawkeyes had become a staple of Carver-Hawkeye Arena long before my arrival on the 15th of February 2024. I entered the world of women's basketball not really knowing the cloutchasing business, and make no mistake, it is a business. This is how brand new I was to NCAA women's basketball, and the "new media" cloutchasing business surrounding Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, the NCAAW, and women's sports.  

As a former true fan of Caitlin Clark, I never sold my soul to cloutchase Caitlin, nor the NCAA, nor the WNBA. Every post and article written about Clark and the Hawkeyes was genuine to the best of my knowledge at that time.

The cloutchasing business is brutal, and I never started watching women's basketball to cloutchase any one of these players. Her fans truly assumed that I was a journalist in Iowa City to write a story on Caitlin Clark. I did write an article when she became the new NCAA all-leading scorer on the 15th of February 2024 but not to cloutchase, as I've never made a single dime, nickel or penny from cloutchasing Caitlin Clark or the W. I have it on good authority that fans including Caitlin Clark and her team never truly believed that I was a true fan. I think her fans' perceived opinions about me dominated what they truly felt about me in the end. The cloutchasing grifters are always going to tell you everything you want to hear, and stroke your ego. They're going to compromise their principles for the next great hit for social media clout. Even if you thought I was cloutchasing, or in it for a quick money grab since you know I'm a writer, the quickest thing would be is to do a simple background check. If you had done your due diligence, then you would've quickly concluded that I'm not a member of any press or media group. But I am an author, a blogger, and have written several books. Everything from the way that I was treated by the online WBB community (from the cloutchasing grifters to the die-hard fans) explains why so many of you went out of your way to ostracize me, and try and destroy my reputation in that space. I did not enter the WBB space for the sole purpose to cloutchase and grift. But many did enter this space for nefarious reasons, which have nothing to do with being true fans of women's basketball.

Multiple well-known content creators in the women's basketball online community made deals to produce fake and biased narratives surrounding WNBA players as well as the fake Caitlin--Angel beef, which has gotten old as Caitlin's shooting percentages are in a downward spiral, and Angel Reese's game has elevated. Reese seems to be more at the top of her game this season while your favorite superhero Caitlin Clark continues to battle injury after injury, which are questionable.

If you want to accuse me of cloutchasing Caitlin Clark, do your research and report on the facts. Too many of you are so used to producing fake narratives about these players to make a few dollars until you believe everyone's doing the same things you're doing for a pay check. But not everyone has sold their soul to media networks to produce biased and fake content for clickbait, likes, views, and ratings.

I still can start producing biased and false narratives about the W and its players. I'm not above reproach. If I did, it would be a quick money grab like a book on Caitlin Clark's rise to superstardom, or something like that. But stay tuned. You never know what I will do.

The End