Issues related to race and sports have been examined by scholars for a long time. Among these issues are racial discrimination in sports as well as the observation that there are overrepresentations and underrepresentations of different races in different sports.
Participation and performance disparities
Sprinting
Most of the sprinters who run less than 10 seconds are of West African descent, with the majority being of Afro-Caribbean and African-American descent. Namibian (formerly South-West Africa) Frankie Fredericks became the first man of non-West African heritage to achieve the feat in 1991 and in 2003 Australia's Patrick Johnson (who has Irish and Indigenous Australian heritage) became the first sub-10-second runner without an African background.
In 2010, Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre became the first white European under ten seconds (although Poland's Marian Woronin had unofficially surpassed the barrier with a time of 9.992 seconds in 1984). In 2011, Zimbabwean Ngonidzashe Makusha became the 76th man to break the barrier, yet only the fourth man not of West African descent. No sprinter from South Asia, East Africa or North Africa has officially achieved this feat. In 2015 Su Bingtian of China became the first ethnic East Asian athlete to officially break the 10 second barrier and British athlete Adam Gemili – who is of mixed Iranian and Moroccan descent – became the first athlete with either North African or Middle Eastern heritage to break the ten second barrier.
Some studies have claimed that biological factors may be largely
responsible for the disproportionate success in sprinting events enjoyed
by athletes of West African descent. Chief among these is a
preponderance of natural fast twitch muscle
fibers, which aid in quicker reaction times. Scientists have concluded
that elite-level sprinting is virtually impossible in the absence of the
ACTN3 protein, a "speed gene" most common among persons of West African descent that renders fast twitch muscle fibers fast.
Top sprinters of differing ancestry, such as Christophe Lemaitre, are
believed to be exceptions in that they too likely have the genes
favourable for sprinting.
Endurance running
Many Nilotic groups also excel in long and middle distance running. Jon Entine has argued that this sporting prowess stems from their exceptional running economy. This in turn is a function of slim body morphology and slender legs, a preponderance of slow twitch muscle fibers, a low heart rate gained from living at high-altitude,
as well as a culture of running to school from a young age. A study by
Pitsiladis et al. (2006) questioning 404 elite distance runners from Kenya found that 76% of the international-class respondents hailed from the Kalenjin ethnic group and that 79% spoke a Nilotic language.
Joseph L. Graves argues that Kenyan athletes from the African Great Lakes
region who have done well in long distance running all have come from
high-altitude areas, whereas those from low-altitude areas do not
perform particularly well. He also argues that Koreans and Ecuadorians
from high-altitude areas compete well with Kenyans in long-distance
races. This suggests that it is the fact of having trained in a high
altitude, combined with possible local level physiological adaptations
to high-altitude environments that is behind the success in long
distance running, not race. Similarly, Graves argues that while it is
superficially true that most of the world recordholders in the 100-metre
dash are of West African heritage, they also all have partial genetic
heritage from Europe and Native America, they have also all trained
outside of West Africa, and West African nations have not trained any
top-level runners. Graves says these factors make it impossible to say
to which degree the success is best attributed to genetic or to
environmental factors.
Views in the United States
Various individuals, including scholars and sportswriters, have commented on the apparent overrepresentations and underrepresentations of different races in different sports. African Americans accounted for 75% of players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) near the end of 2008. According to the latest National Consortium for Academics and Sports equality report card, 65% of National Football League players were African Americans. However, in 2008, about 8.5% of Major League Baseball
players were African American (who make up about 13% of the US
population, 6.5% male, no women play in MLB), and 29.1% were Hispanics
of any race (compared with about 16% of the US population). In 2015, only about 5% of the National Hockey League (NHL) players are black or of mixed black heritage.
NCAA sports have mirrored the trends present in American
professional sports. During the 2005–2006 season, black males comprised
46.9 percent of NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and 58.9 percent of
NCAA Division I basketball.
The NCAA statistics show a strong correlation between percentage of
black athletes within a sport and the revenue generated by that sport.
For example, University of North Carolina's 2007–2008 men's basketball
team (the team was 59% black relative to the 3.7% black population of
the institution as a whole) generated $17,215,199 in revenue, which
comprised 30 percent of the school's athletic revenue for the year.
Given NCAA rules prohibiting the payment of players, some have come to
see the structure of NCAA athletics as exploitative of college athletes.
Some believe that since black athletes comprise a high percentage of
athletes in high revenue college sports (FBS football and Division I
Men's basketball), they are therefore the biggest losers in this
arrangement. Billy Hawkins argues that "the control over the Black
male's body and profiting off its physical expenditure is in the hands
of White males."
His position refers to a very high percentage of Division I
universities controlled by white administrations that prosper greatly
from the free labor produced by the revenue sports that are heavily
populated by black athletes. This claim is substantiated by statistics,
such as the 2005–2006 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in
which games started, and minutes played for black athletes were over
double that of their white counterparts, with 68.7 percent of scoring in
the tournament coming from black players.
"Black athletic superiority"
"Black athletic superiority" is the theory that black people possess certain traits that are acquired through genetic and/or environmental factors that allow them to excel over other races in athletic competition. Whites are more likely to hold these views; however, some blacks and other racial affiliations do as well.
A 1991 poll in the United States indicated that half of the respondents
agreed with the belief that "blacks have more natural physical
ability".
Various theories regarding racial differences of black and white people
and their possible effect on sports performance have been put forth
since the later part of the nineteenth century by professionals in many
different fields.
In the United States, attention to the subject faded over the first two
decades of the twentieth century as black athletes were eliminated from
white organized sport and segregated to compete among themselves on
their own amateur and professional teams. Interest in the subject was renewed after the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and Jesse Owens's record-breaking performances at the 1935 Big Ten Track Championships.
Regarding Jesse Owen's impressive four-gold medal performance in the
following 1936 Olympics, the then U.S head coach remarked that “The
Negro excels. It was not long ago that his ability to sprint and jump
was a life-and-death matter to him in the jungle. His muscles are
pliable, and his easy going disposition is a valuable aid to the mental
and physical relaxation that a runner and jumper must have.”
In 1971, African-American sociologist Harry Edwards
wrote: "The myth of the black male's racially determined, inherent
physical and athletic superiority over the white male, rivals the myth
of black sexual superiority in antiquity." Later in 2003, in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education,
the JBHE Foundation published an article where they pushed back against
this idea of a “black gene” leading to black superiority in athletics, a
concept referred to here as “Racist Theory”. The JBHE contended that
“If there is a “black gene” that leads to athletic prowess, why then do
African Americans, 90 percent of whom have at least one white ancestor,
outperform blacks from African nations in every sport except long
distance running?”
John Milton Hoberman, a historian and Germanic studies professor at the University of Texas at Austin,
has acknowledged that disparities in certain athletic performances
exist. He has asserted that there is no evidence to confirm the
existence of "black athletic superiority".
"East Asian athletic views"
In the United States, East Asians are stereotyped as being physically and athletically inferior to other races.
This has led to much discrimination in the recruitment process of
professional American sports, which contributes to Asian American
athletes being highly underrepresented in the majority of professional
sports teams (a fact that has been noted by many sources). Professional basketball player Jeremy Lin believed that one of the reasons why he wasn't drafted by a NBA team was his race. This belief has been reiterated by sports writer Sean Gregory of Time magazine and NBA commissioner David Stern. In 2012, despite making up 6% of nation's population Asian American athletes only represented 2% of the NFL, 1.9% of the MLB and less than 1% of the NBA and NHL. Brandon Yip was the only player of Chinese descent playing professional hockey in the NHL in 2011.
Basketball should be a sport that is noted for the fact that it has one
of the lowest numbers of Asian athletes being represented despite the
fact that the sport's color barrier was broken by an Asian American
athlete back in 1947 named Wataru Misaka who was the first American racial minority to play in the NBA.
In American sports, there is and has been a higher representation
of Asian American athletes who are of mixed racial heritage in
comparison to those of full racial heritage such as the case with former
football player Roman Gabriel
who was the first Asian-American to start as an NFL quarterback.
Another fact to note is that majority of Asian American athletes who are
currently drafted/recruited to compete professionally tend to be in
sports that require little to no contact.
Chinese views
The
idea among Chinese people that "genetic differences" cause "Asian
athletes" to be "slower at sprinting" than "their American, African or
European rivals" is "widely accepted". The People's Daily, a Chinese newspaper, wrote that Chinese are "suited" to sports that draw upon "agility and technique", such as table tennis, badminton and gymnastics.
The newspaper said that Chinese people have "congenital shortcomings"
and "genetic differences" that meant that they are disadvantaged at
"purely athletic events" when competing against "black and white
athletes". The success of hurdler Liu Xiang was explained by the hurdles event requiring technique which fit with the stereotype that Chinese are disciplined and intelligent.
Li Aidong, a researcher with the China Institute of Sports
Science, said that sports coaches believed that Chinese athletes could
have success in long jumping, high jumping and race walking. However, Li doubted that Chinese could compete in "pure sprinting",
although there did not exist any "credible scientific studies" which
supported the idea that "Asians" were disadvantaged in "sprinting". Professional sprinters Su Bingtian of China and Yoshihide Kiryƫ of Japan have contradicted this view of East Asians struggling to achieve quick footspeed, as both have broken the 10-second barrier in the 100 m and Su has ranked in the top five all-time fastest runners over 60 metres.
Explanations for participation and performance disparities
Physiological factors
A
1994 examination of 32 English sport/exercise science textbooks found
that seven suggested that there are biophysical differences due to race
that might explain differences in sports performance, one expressed
caution with the idea, and the other 24 did not mention the issue.
Socioeconomic factors
In Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing, UCLA
researcher Jane Margolis outlines the history of segregation in
swimming in the United States to show how people of colour have been
affected up to the present day by inadequate access to swimming
facilities and lessons.
Margolis asserts that physiological differences between ethnic groups
are relatively minor and says: "In most cases of segregation,
stereotypes and belief systems about different ethnic gender groups'
genetic make-up and physical abilities (and inabilities) emerge to
rationalize unequal access and resulting disparities." According to Margolis, views regarding "buoyancy problems" of African Americans are merely part of folklore which have been passed down from generation to generation. Joan Ferrante, a professor of sociology at Northern Kentucky University,
suggests that geographic location, financial resources, and the
influence of parents, peers, and role models are involved in channeling
individuals of certain races towards particular sports and away from
others.
Haplogroup inheritance
Elite
athletic capacity has also been correlated with differing patterns of
haplogroup inheritance. Moran et al. (2004) observed that among Y-DNA
(paternal) clades borne by elite endurance athletes in Ethiopia, the E*, E3*, K*(xP), and J*(xJ2) are positively correlated with elite athletic endurance performance, whereas the haplogroup E3b1 is significantly less frequent among the elite endurance athletes.
Citing haplogroup data from various previous studies, Ahmetov and Fedotovskaya (2012) report that the mtDNA (maternal) haplogroups I, H, L0, M*, G1, N9, and V have been positively correlated with elite athletic endurance performance, whereas the mtDNA haplogroups L3*, B, K, J2, and T
are negatively correlated with athletic endurance performance. Japanese
sprinters were also found to have a higher distribution of the mtDNA F.
Racial prejudices, discrimination, segregation, and integration
The baseball color line, which included separate Negro league baseball, was one example of racial segregation in the United States.
In the United States, a study found that a form of racial
discrimination exists in NBA basketball, as white players received
higher salaries than do blacks related to actual performance. Funk says
this may be due to viewer discrimination. Viewership increases when
there is greater participation by white players, which means higher
advertising incomes. This explains much of the salary gap.
Researchers have looked at other evidence for sports consumer
discrimination. One method is comparing the price of sports memorabilia,
such as baseball cards. Another is looking at fan voting for all-star
teams. Still another is looking at willingness to attend sporting
events. The evidence is mixed, with some studies finding bias against
blacks and others not. A bias, if it exists, may be diminishing and
possibly disappearing, according to a study on fan voting for baseball
all-star teams.
Major League Baseball
Debuting with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Jackie Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era.
| Year | Major leagues | Population | Ratio |
| 1945 | 2% | 10% | 1:5 |
| 1959 | 17% | 11% | 3:2 |
| 1975 | 27% | 11% | 5:2 |
| 1995 | 19% | 12% | 3:2 |
The under-representation of blacks in U.S. baseball ended during the early years of the civil rights movement.
The representation of different races in Major League Baseball has been
increasing since 1947 according to Mark Armour and Daniel R Levitt of
the Society for American Baseball Research. According to their research,
African American representation reached its peak in 1984 when it
reached 18.4%. However, the African American representation has been
steadily decreasing since that point. As of 2016, the African American
representation was down to 6.7%.
According to Armour and Levitt, the Latino representation has
been steadily increasing since 1947. That year, the representation was
only at 0.7%. Since that time, the Latino representation in baseball has
increased substantially. As of 2016, the Latino representation was at
27.4%.
Asian American representation in baseball has been much less
abundant throughout the game's history according to Armour and Levitt.
Their representation in the Major League did not get over 1% until 1999
when their representation was at 1.2%. While the representation is
increasing, it is doing so significantly slower than the other races. As
of 2016 Asian American representation was only at 2.1%, a small
increase from 1999.
According to Armour and Levitt, Whites make up the largest
portion of the different races represented in the Major League. However,
their representation has been steadily declining as the African
American, Asian, and Latino representation has been steadily on the
rise. The Society for American Baseball research shows that white
representation was at 98.3% in 1947. Since then, representation has
decreased to 63.7% in 2016.
In a journal titled Using Giddens's Structuration Theory to
Examine the Waning Participation of African Americans in Baseball, it
says “Numerous studies have shown that African-American youths are more
likely than Whites to be encouraged and even directed to play basketball
over other sports."
National Basketball Association
Although Japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the National Basketball Association's color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks, 1950 is recognized as the year the NBA integrated. That year African-American players joined several teams; they included Chuck Cooper with the Boston Celtics, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton with the New York Knicks, and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Bullets.
National Football League
Black players participated in the National Football League
from its inception in 1920; however, there were no African-American
players from 1933 to 1946. There is a great deal of speculation as to
why this “gentleman’s agreement”, as it became to be called, was
implemented during this era. Some argue that it was purely because of
the Great Depression. Jobs were difficult to come by, and thus race
relations became increasingly strained as African-Americans, and other
minorities, became perceived as “threats”. Finally, in 1946, the Los
Angeles Rams broke this unofficial “agreement” and drafted Kenny
Washington along with Woody Strode in the same year. The final NFL team
to break this agreement was the Washington Redskins, who signed Bobby
Mitchell in 1962.
In October 2018, George Taliaferro, the first African American who played in NFL died at the age of 91.
While George was the first African American drafted to play in the NFL,
the first African American would not be drafted as the Quarterback
until 1953, when Willie Thrower was drafted to play with the Chicago
Bears.
It wouldn't be for another 14 years, 1967, until the first African
American, Emlen Tunnell, would be elected for the NFL Hall of Fame.
Professional Golfers Association
In 1961, the "Caucasians only" clause was struck from the Professional Golfers' Association of America constitution.
Throughout the game's history, golf has not included many
African-American players.They were often denied the opportunity to golf.
However, many found a way to play the game anyway. According to an
article by the African-American Registry titled African-Americans and
Golf, a Brief History, “the Professional Golf Association of America
(PGA) fought hard and until 1961, successfully maintained its all-white
status. Black golfers (then) created their own organization of touring
professionals.”
Tiger Woods has had a major impact on the game of golf,
especially among minorities. The article, African-Americans and Golf, a
Brief History, states “With the assent of Tiger Woods and his golf game
comes an increased interest and participation from young minorities in
the game. He himself envisions this impacting in the next ten years as
they come of age and develop physically as well." Woods hopes minority
participation will continue to increase in the future.
The research surrounding descriptions employed about White and
Black athletes in the media and how the stereotypes of Black athletes
has affected Tiger Woods in a majority white sport, because Tiger Woods
was the only Black golfer on the PGA tour, he received different
comments related to black stereotypes that the other golfers on the tour
did not.
African American participation in golf has been increasing. In a
journal titled African American Culture and Physical Skill Development
Programs: The Effect on Golf after Tiger Woods, it says “Smith (1997)
reported data from a National Golf Foundation (NDF) study in the United
States indicating there are 676,000 African-American golfers (2.7% of
the 24.7 million golfers)."
As African-American participation increased, Asian participation
in professional golf has also increased. According to an article by
Golfweek titled Record Number of Asian Golfers Compete for Masters
Glory, there were 10 golfers which was a tournament record.
According to the article Where are all the black golfers? Nearly
two decades after Tiger Woods’ arrival, golf still struggles to attract
minorities, As of 2013 there were 25.7 million golfers which are
composed of 20.3 million whites, 3.1 million Hispanics, 1.3 million
African-Americans, and 1 million Asian-Americans. The lack of diversity
is still very apparent in golf today.
Positions of power: coaching and administration
Referring to quarterbacks, head coaches, and athletic directors, Kenneth L. Shropshire of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has described the number of African Americans in "positions of power" as "woefully low". In 2000, 78% of players in the NBA were black, but only 33% of NBA officials were minorities. The lack of minorities in positions of leadership has been attributed to racial stereotypes as well "old boy networks" and white administrators networking within their own race. In 2003, the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule, requiring teams searching for a new head coach to interview at least one minority candidate.
With an inadequate number of minorities in executive positions in
the NFL, the NFL decided to revise the Rooney Rule to include teams to
interview minorities for general manager positions. There has been
backlash on how effective this rule has been and if there needs to be
more revisions to this rule. As recent as 2019, there are only four
minority head coaches representing NFL teams: Ron Rivera, Mike Tomlin,
Brian Flores, and Anthony Lynn. Because of racial discrimination, which
AAP News & Journal defines as, “a form of social inequality that
includes experiences resulting from legal and nonlegal systems of
discrimination”,
it has resulted in unequal outcomes and a power struggle. A vast
majority of the representation of minority coaches are held at
positional or assistant coaches. With a lot of people [minorities]
competing for head coaching positions with only a limited supply, it
allows the very few minority head coaches to get handsomely salaries
while the rest get average or low pay. Not only are finances an issue,
the talent that is being presented is ultimately looked over because
minorities coaches are not being hired and the NFL is meeting their
status quo, of at least interviewing minorities for head coaching and
general manager positions. Social networks also play a big role in how
coaches are hired. With the recent hirings of coaches like Sean McVay
and Kliff Kingsbury, according The Undefeated writer, Jason Reid, black
assistants told him that, “It’s crushing that someone with such an
unimpressive resume could ascend to the top of their business merely
because his background is on offense…”.
The power dynamics between the owners and players in the NFL has
created racial inequality between the two groups. 30 owners are white
while only two owners are of color (one is from Pakistan and one is
Asian American). Richard Roth, sports attorney who has represented
Peyton Manning, claimed, “22 of the teams in the NFL have been owned by
the same person or family for at least 20 years” .Dr.
Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in
Sports, claimed, “Who owners invite into their fraternity-and its
overwhelmingly a fraternity-is self-selective”. Owners of teams must be very wealthy as teams “Cost upwards of $1B”.
Due to wealth inequality in the United States, there are few black
billionaires who could be potential candidates. Furthermore, from a
social class standpoint, it is very difficult for there to be a black
owner as “very few black people are part of these billionaires’ boys’
clubs”.
Aside from a lack of black owners, owners make hundreds of times
what the players make. This is similar to the NFL disparity between
owners and the players. According to a report by the Green Bay Packers,
the NFL earned $7,808,000 from TV deals, and split it among its 32 teams
evenly. This means that each NFL owner “made $244m last year in 2016”.
By contrast, the “average NFL player made $2.1 in 2015”. The owners of
these teams are making hundreds of times what the players are. This is
similar to the difference in pay between CEOs and average workers of
corporations. Professor Pfeffer, a social inequality professor at the
University of Michigan, claimed, “CEOs make more than 350 times what the
average worker makes”.
The work of the owners is not hundreds of times more valuable than that
of the players. However, it is the power dynamics and politics of the
league structure that allow owners to make so much more.
In a pre season game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Colin
Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Diego 49ers, chose to kneel
instead of standing in solidarity with his teammates for the National
Anthem. He did this to raise awareness for victims of police brutality
and oppression of minorities in America. Many people believe believe
Kaepernick is a hero for raising awareness for important social issues.
However, his actions caused a massive backlash by fans and the media who
decried him for acting anti American and disrespecting American troops.
Furthermore, players from other teams began to kneel instead of stand
with the national anthem. When questioned by the media, he claimed, “I
am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that
oppresses black people and people of color.” He continued, ““If they
take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for
what is right,” he says.” According to NFL policy, “There is no rule saying players must stand during the national anthem”.
Kaepernick’s act caused many other players to also stand during
the national anthem. Bob McNair, owner of the Houston Texans, claimed,
“They can’t have the inmates running the prison” during a meeting with
owners and no current players. After the meeting finished, Troy Vincent,
former cornerback for the Miami Dolphins, claimed, “In all my years of
playing in the NFL, I have been called every name in the book, including
the N-word-but never felt like an inmate”.
Many players took to social media to protest the racist rhetoric of Bob
McNair. Richard Sherman tweeted in response, “I can appreciate ppl
being candid. Don’t apologize! You meant what you said. Showing true
colors allows ppl to see you for who you are”. Damon Harrison Sr. tweeted, “...Did that wake some of y’all up now?”.
Similar to the discrepancy between participation and leadership
of blacks in American professional sports leagues, NCAA sports also have
had a low percentage of administrators and coaches relative to the
number of athletes. For example, during the 2005–2006 academic year,
high revenue NCAA sports (basketball and football) had 51 percent black
student athletes, whereas only 17 percent of head coaches in the same
high revenue sports were black
Also, in the same 2005–2006 year, only 5.5 percent of athletic
directors at Division I "PWIs" (Primarily White Institutions), were
black.
Terry Bowden, a notable white Division I football coach, suggests that
the reason many university presidents will not hire black coaches is
"because they are worried about how alumni and donors will react." Bowden also refers to the "untapped talent"
existing within the ranks of assistant coaches in Division I football.
The data backs up this claim, with 26.9 percent of Division I assistant
coaches during the 2005-06 year in men's revenue sports being black,
a notably higher percentage than of head coaches. In terms of
administrative positions, they have been concentrated largely in the
hands of whites. As recently as 2009, 92.5 percent of university
presidents in the FBS were white, 87.5 percent of athletic directors
were white, and 100 percent of the conference commissioners were white.
Despite these statistics, black head coaches have become more prevalent
at the FBS level. As of 2012, there are now 15 black head coaches in
FBS football, including now 3 in the SEC, a conference that did not hire its first black head coach until 2003.
Segregated seating
In 1960, the Houston Oilers implemented a policy at Jeppesen Stadium to segregate the black fans from the white fans. Clem Daniels, Art Powell, Bo Roberson, and Fred Williamson of the Oakland Raiders refused to play in a stadium that had segregated seating. The 1963 game against the New York Jets was relocated to a different stadium.
Mascot controversies
The use of Native American names and imagery for sport mascots
or in franchise memorabilia is an issue of ongoing discussion and
controversy in American sports, as some Native American representatives
have objected to such use without explicit negotiation and permission.
Promoting racial harmony and breaking stereotypes
Racial
differences in the NFL are also evident between player positions as
well. According to an Undefeated article, In 1999 the percent of white
players who played the center position was 75% compared to 20% African
American. Also in 1999, the percent of white players who played the
quarterback position was 81% compared to 18% who was African American.
If we fast forward to 2014 the amount of players who are white that are
playing the quarterback or center position have increased. It
could be said that these two positions are two of the most important
positions that hold a lot of responsibility of taking care of the
football. The high representation of white quarterbacks is not
surprising due to the racial stereotypes of quarterbacks. In a study by
the University of Colorado, that studied the racial stereotypes of NFL
quarterbacks, found, “ that black participants stereotyped both races
more strongly...suggesting that black players may not believe they are
cut out to be a professional quarterback”.
The study goes on to say that, “the terms physical strength and natural
ability were more associated with the black quarterbacks while
leadership and intelligence was more associated with white quarterbacks".These biases reflect how we watch football players and ultimately impacts adolescents at a young age.
According to William Jeynes, a professor of education at California State University, Long Beach, the gathering at the first Thanksgiving in the United States was an attempt to create racial harmony through games and sporting contests that included running, shooting and wrestling. Huping Ling, a professor of history at Truman State University,
has asserted that the participation of Chinese students in sports
helped break local stereotypes in the St. Louis area during the 1920s.
This history of racial tension in the competition between whites and
minority groups shows an attempt to prove the humanity, equality, and
even occasionally their superiority on the playing field. By doing so,
groups of minorities hoped that sports would serve as a source for
racial pride that would eventually lead to upward social mobility.
However, as early as 1984, criticism has been levied against these
ideas. Sports sociologist Harry Edwards openly criticized African
Americans as being “co-conspirators” in their own children's
exploitation by the white dominated sports establishment. Despite the
perception of a white dominated sports establishment, research has shown
that there is greater emphasis on sports as a potential career path in
the African American community compared to the White community.
Edwards continued by arguing that placing so much emphasis on sports
achievement as a way for minority groups, specifically referring to
African Americans, to achieve some level of prominence is de-emphasizing
the importance of intellectual pursuits.
Despite the conflicting perceptions of sports as a harmonizing
instrument, many researchers still believe that not much has changed to
alleviate the racially tense landscape many believe to be inherent in
current day society.
Racial Activism in American Professional Sports
Racial activism has been found in many of professional sports leagues such as the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.
National Basketball Association
Following
the emergence of the Trayvon Martin case, NBA players including Lebron
James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and other Miami Heat players at the time
posed for a picture in hoodies, the outfit that Trayvon Martin was wearing when murdered.
In December 2014, Lebron James and other Cleveland Cavaliers including
Kyrie Irving wore black t-shirts featuring the quote "I CANT BREATHE"
following the death of Eric Garner who was put in a choke hold by a New
York police officer.
Since then, Lebron James has been in public disputes Via Twitter and
Instagram, shaming Donald Trump and news analyst Laura Ingraham who
openly told Lebron James to "shut up and dribble", suggesting that
Lebron is only good for his athletic abilities. Lebron then went and
turned that slogan "Shut up and dribble" into the Title of his Showtime
Series that aired in October of 2018. The show focuses on athletes who
are shifting the narrative of what it means to be a black athlete in the
sense that nowadays more and more athletes are speaking up on political
and racial topics going on in the Unites States.
National Football League
Former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, claimed to be blackballed
by all 32 teams following being released for his on the field protest in
support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Ads following his release
have focused on a simple tagline "Believe in something. Even if it means
sacrificing everything."
Issues in sports commentating
Racial
remarks have been made about athletes of color throughout history.
Radio host Don Imus described the Rutgers University women's basketball
team as "nappy-headed hos" on his radio program "Inmus in the Morning"
in 2007. Later on he proclaimed that the match-up between Rutgers and
their opponents looked like a showdown of the "jigaboos versus the
wannabes."
In 1988 sports commentator Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder proclaimed
his theory on why Black Americans are more athletic than White
Americans:
"The black is a better athlete to begin with because he's been
bred to be that way, because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes
up into his back, and they can jump higher and run faster because of
their bigger thighs and he's bred to be the better athlete because this
goes back all the way to the Civil War when during the slave trade … the
slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could
have a big black kid …"
Snyder was later fired by CBS.
People of color in commentating
Sherman
Maxwell was the first African American sports broadcaster. He began his
career in 1929 on WNJ radio. He was known as "the voice of Newark".
Portrayals in film
The US-set films Hoosiers and Rudy have been described as memorializing the "golden age of sports" as a time of white prevalence and dominance, while Glory Road showed a white coach helping to dissolve the color barrier in college basketball.
Invictus deals with the subject of the Rugby World Cup in post-apartheid South Africa.
Australia
Inequality in sport for the Aboriginal Australians exists due to material barriers. A 2007 report by the Australian Human Rights Commission
suggested that fear of "racial vilification" was partly responsible for
the under-representation of Aboriginal and other ethnic groups in
Australian sports.
South Africa
In South Africa, black representation on the cricket and rugby national sports teams is ensured via the introduction of quotas.
United States
Discussions of race and sports in the United States, where the two subjects have always been intertwined in American history, have focused to a great extent on African Americans. Depending on the type of sport and performance level, African Americans are reported to be over- or under-represented.
African Americans compose the highest percentage of the minority groups
active at the professional level, but are among those who show the
lowest participation overall.
In 2013, while 2.8% of full-time degree-pursuing undergraduates
were black men, the group comprised 57% of college football teams, and 64% of men's basketball players. While blacks predominate in football and basketball, whites predominate in all other regulated sports.
A 2001 study indicated that black high school students play
harder than white students, because the former were more likely to
perceive sports as a venue to success. The study denies that racial
characteristics, per se, is a factor in success in sports.
For all races and sports, from 3.3% (basketball) to 11.3% (ice
hockey) are successful in making the transition from high school varsity
to an NCAA team.
From .8% (men's ice hockey) to 9.4% (baseball) successfully transition
from NCAA to professional teams. Therefore, the overall success rate of
high school athletes progressing to professional athletes was from .03%
(men and women's basketball) to .5% (baseball). The annual number of
NCAA athletes drafted into professional sports annually varied from
seven (men's ice hockey) to 678 (baseball).
Unlike black athletes, blacks as a group have not perceived
sports as an important venue to prosperity.
There are higher participation rates by blacks as well as higher numbers
of people in non-athletic endeavor, such as policy, teaching,
physicians, lawyers, engineers, and architects.
Athletics have been increasingly subsidized by tuition. Only one in eight of the 202 Division I
colleges actually netted more money than they spent on athletics
between the years 2005 and 2010. At the few money making schools, football
and sometimes basketball sales support the school's other athletic
programs. The amount spent on an athlete in one of the six
highest-profile football conferences, on average, is six times more than
the amount spent to educate the non-athlete. Spending per student
varied from $10,012 to $19,225; cost per athlete varied from $41,796 to
$163,931.
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