Months of conflict came to a breaking point Saturday when DiJonai Carrington struck Sophie Cunningham in the face.A scuffle ensued, Carrington was ejected and then came the social media post that lit the internet on fire."White privilege."DIJONAI CARRINGTON DECLARES 'WHITE PRIVILEGE' AFTER EJECTION FOR SMACKING SOPHIE CUNNINGHAM IN THE FACEDiJonai Carrington of the Chicago Sky was ejected after a brutal foul on Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever.
(Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images)And just like that, the WNBA discourse was about race again.Not just sex, as it had been for weeks.The hit was a product of two different players from two different worlds, but with novel similarities.The WNBA's infamous hit just so happened to involve two former football players that played against boys.Carrington played two years of flag football and then two years of tackle during her elementary school years.
She wanted to play because her brother and sister played it too.Growing up in San Diego, Carrington's father Darren Carrington played for five different NFL teams, but they called San Diego home.Her father's career earnings are not known, but based on the averages of NFL salaries at the time, he likely made multiple millions of dollars across his eight-year career.DiJonai attended the private Horizon Christian Academy, where her mother was her basketball coach coach.On the first day of 2015, DiJonai penned an essay that was published in ESPN.com about flying out to California to watch her brother, Darren Jr., play in the Rose Bowl.Meanwhile, Cunningham went to public high school in Columbia, Missouri.
But she attended a private Catholic school during her younger years.Cunningham played football at Rock Bridge High School with grown boys, but didn't do any tackling like Carrington did in elementary school.Cunningham was a placekicker, and was protected from any plays that involved tackling, but she still made school history as the first girl to score varsity points.She grew up o...