Essay about Discriminatory Rhetoric in Athletics

The topic of race in sport, particularly African Americans in sport, has long been a controversial yet, widely discussed matter. Human and social issues are never easy subjects to discuss or debate, and racial differences tend to provoke very strong reactions. To begin, we will explore those whom claim that black athletes excel in sports as a result of their biological make up. Of all players in the NBA, more than 75% of them are black; of all players in the WNBA, more than 70% of them are black; of all players in the NFL, more than 65% of them are black (Hoenig, 2014). Evidently, black athletes make up a vast majority of these sports in the United States. Athletes must be of elite caliber to have the ability to play at this level, so this

In the biography Jackie Robinson and the American Dilemma by John R. M. Wilson, it tells the story of racial injustice done after world war II and explains how Jackie Robinson was pioneer of better race relations in the United States. The obstacles Jackie Robinson overcame were amazing, he had the responsibility to convert the institutions, customs, and attitudes that had defined race relations in the United States. Seldom has history ever placed so much of a strain on one person. I am addressing the importance of Jackie Robinson’s trials and triumphs to American racial dynamics in the post war period to show how Robinson was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and brought baseball fans together regardless of race.

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31st 1919. In 1947, at the age of 28, Jackie became the first African American to break the “color line” of Major League Baseball when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his tenure with the Dodgers, Jackie was not simply an average player. Among various other accolades, Mr. Robinson was a starter on six World Series teams as well as being named the National League Rookie of The Year in 1947. His advantageous career was then capped in 1962 when he was inducted in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.1 Contrary to popular belief, Jackie's perseverance in implementing racial integration extended beyond his career in Major League Baseball. During the Sixties Jackie Robinson was a

Moreover, Rhoden describes today’s sports world as one with no black power. Many black athletes have great potential and are recruited from their high schools to attend good colleges with a promising education. In practice and games, they play against each other and if they are good enough to make the cut, they get drafted and play at a professional level. As a result, their owners (white individuals) get richer with their unique style of play and talent. The drive for these athletes is of course the good paying salaries, (to some) their education, and their dream of making it out of the streets they grew up in. Rhoden uses Michael Jordan and LeBron James as good examples of athletes that instead of helping on improving the power for the African

Black male athletes have been stereotyped ever since the 19th century. Since Jackie Robinson’s venture into professional baseball in 1952, there has been a constant debate on the subject of the athletically superior, but intellectually inferior Black Male athlete. These black males were forever delineated as inferior to their white counterparts. As a matter of fact from the very beginning of man kind’s civilization process his established societies all over the world have sought ways to glorify the individuals that exuded or better yet, displayed outstanding physical and athletic abilities. These facts became further stated in 1619 when a Dutch Man of War, that was anchored off the East Coast of America, exchanged “20 and odd Africans” for some much needed supplies to secure their voyage back to Europe. It was there that the exploitation of Africans, and later Negroes-Colored-Blacks, and finally African-Americans, began in the Western Hemisphere. And even though Black males and Black females were rewarded for their reproductive abilities, the men were always viewed as the archetype of what physical abilities, physical talent, physical competency, physical valor, and overall physical courage looked like. These Bucks, as they were referred to, would appease the white plantation owners with sporting events such as with boxing matches, racing events, sexual exploitations, and strength lifting exercises i.e., who could stack the most bales of cotton in a given period of time.

One socioligical explanation as to why African Americans excel in athletics is because it is viewed as a way of upward social and financial mobility. Being one of the world’s largest institutions, sports generate billions of dollars in revenue each year. Specifically, the National Football League generates six billion dollars in revenue a year (Sports Industry Overview, 2009). The life of an NFL player is filled with fame, fortune and limitless opportunites, something that the majority of young children dream about. The reason we see more African Americans succeeding in sports is because they have limited resources and opportunities for upward social mobility elsewhere. With the poverty rate among African Americans so high (24.7 %) they often do not have the resources to excel in education so instead they look to sports as a way of socio-economic advancement (Bureau, Poverty, 2009). Sports sociologist Harry Edwards defines this concept of black youth using sports as a way of social mobility as “blind faith”. Edwards explains three reasons as to why black families push their

There are many reasons why the number of minorities that participate is sports vary from sport to sport. Race plays a big part in sports as well as in our society. Why is it that a group of people can harass and abuse a young black male for raping a white female, but on the next Saturday at the big football game cheer him on and hope that he has a great game. Over the years there have been some great black sports players, in almost all sports. Michael Jordan, OJ Simpson, Mohamed Ali, Bo Jackson, just to name a few. When players like these come along that are black and sort of take over a sport, many white male sports fans say stuff like, "He's black, he's faster than the white players." This tends to be true, blacks dominate the speed

Racial ideology continues to have an influence on the sporting world, and on the sports and recreational options for Americans. In a diverse American society, we need to be conscious of the lingering effects of racial ideology and seek to eliminate any of these remaining effects. The effects are numerous. At the professional and collegiate levels, there are differences between the way that power is distributed. Managers and coaches are almost always white, even in sports where the players are largely African-American. Ethnicity also can contribute to similar outcomes the number of foreign-born coaches in MLB, the NHL and NBA is almost nil, even as percentages of foreign-born players are steadily increasing. In addition, people are still affected at the youth level as well, as opportunities in sports and recreational are not evenly distributed. There needs to be increasing awareness of how the lingering effects of racial ideology still affect people today.

Often times this success in sports is attributed to another gene or attribute that gives African-Americans an athletic advantage in competition. According to Kerr (2010) the reason why there is no record of the athleticism of people of African descent is that lack of coverage in the home continent of Africa (p. 24)

How do racial identities play a role in the development of professional athletes? In order to dive into this topic we can follow the works of social theorist W.E.B. Dubois. Dubois introduced the world to sociological theories such as the veil and double consciousness. This analysis of the racial consciousness of athletes is based upon DuBois 's works. In this research, I will provide examples of how the Veil and Double Consciousness theories play out in current professional sports.

Racism in sports has been around of hundreds of years, but recently it has shown that it’s still a major concern that needs to be taken care of. Years ago, Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight boxing champion dealt with the hardships of racism. “America has come a long way since those times” said Johnson, describing how America has developed through the years dealing with racism in sports.

The reporter writes, “Elite athletes who trace most or all of their ancestry to Africa are by and large better than the competition.” It is all about where your genes come from; not just being black will automatically make you better at sports. It is the difference in the population over time some call this evolution. They continue on about how some are afraid to talk about such a mater, not wanting to come across as a racist. It is all biology; African

As they both became more skillful at it, the whites would come to consider the blacks more “sensible.” (Nathan Irvin 64)

In many aspects of sports African-Americans are viewed as the dominant race. Black athletes are more naturally talented and gifted with higher levels of physical ability, while White athletes are more intelligent with a stronger leadership ability (Ferrucci 312). At least that’s what the stereotypes tell us. Stereotypes

The text also brings up racialization in sport, in particular in the NFL, a concept which I found to be quite interesting. As a somewhat casual football fan, I have never considered the lack of Black kickers in the NFL, but now that I actually think about it can see that their is a disportionate amount of kickers of white decent and I can hardly remember evering seeing a black kicker. After doing a quick Google search I found that there is only one black kicker, Marquette King, currently playing in the entire NFL which should not be the case, considering the NFL is a