This article argues that historical images of Black men as hypersexual criminals inform contemporary responses to and representations of Black male basketball players. It argues that the methods by which whites manage their fearful and voyeuristic responses to Black male athletes are representative of how they manage their relationships to Black men generally. The article argues that it is possible to better understand the cycle of white lore within which historical images of Black men circulate by applying a telescoped gaze to basketball and representations of professional Black basketball players. The article links the dynamic of fear and desire enacted in literal ways in minstrel performances and lynching rituals to the more subtle ways that the same dynamic informs contemporary responses to, and representations of, Black male athletes such as Latrell Sprewell, Dennis Rodman, and Michael Jordan.
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