Taboo

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 today’s society, there are many ways race shapes perceptions. There is a social significance attached to skin color and race, and among this, they vary greatly. Furthermore, individuals nowadays do not shape their perceptions of athletes by athletic merit alone; instead, fans perception is often racially coded. The Atlantic article by Adam Felder and Seth Amitin presented the hidden bias of broadcaster. In this study, they focused on announcers for televised baseball games in order to detect the terminology used to describe players. They discovered that “while there is no difference between race or nationality when it comes to performance-based descriptions, effort-based and character-based descriptions make a big difference”(1) This instance demonstrates the existence of a subconscious racial bias among individuals. The race of the athlete shapes the viewer’s perception by guaranteeing the success of performance in the eye of the fan. Additionally, white athletes are credited for their training, work ethic, and dedication, whereas blacks are simply credited for their genes and skin color. This study shows how eliminating racial prejudice in sports consumption is difficult, since it is an underlying idea many have. Instead of simply focusing on their race, fans and viewers should instead take into account the effort and talent of the athlete. Media portrayals of races affect how viewers react to them, and therefore it also needs to start with the reporting of black

According to Anthony Schmidt and Kevin Coe, they have brought up previous studies generally find that commentators stereotype black athletes as naturally gifted in terms ability to jump, run, and physical appearance, and born athletes, as for “white athletes, they are more often described as having superior intelligence and determination.” Most televised sports comments are predominantly made by white commentators on television. “Sports television producers and commentators appeared to make an effort, though not always successful, to treat all athletes fairly regardless of race or ethnicity” (Derse). The problem is there are not many black people that work for media institute. According to Derse, he mentioned the lack of minorities in the sports media business, when he stated that whites accounted for about 89 percent, blacks accounted for 10.5 percent while Asians and Hispanics accounted for less than 1 percent in sports media. This is further backed up by Dexter Rogers when he showed that 94, 88, and 87 percent of the sports editors, columnists and reporters are white males. Also in Arnett article, a recent study in 2006 by The Institute on Diversity and Ethics in Sports found “whites made up 94 percent of sports editors, 89 percent of assistant sports editors, 88 percent of sports columnists, and 87 percent of sports reporters at the time.”

The treatment of minority athletes, particularly African Americans has been a grave issue in American sports for decades. More than fifty years ago, to be a colored person playing a so- called “white sport,” meant that it was an unfortunate fact that inequality, prejudices and racial discrimination came along with that territory, and it is also an unfortunate fact that some of those racial tensions are yet in full, modernized effect today. African- American starting five, or starting lineman, being told what to do, when, and how to do it by their Caucasian coaches, and general managers, are in sync with past century notions of African- American slaves being under total dominion and authority of

Throughout American history, sports has always been a big topic. Many Americans view sports as a part of their culture and an influence in their lives. There are many opportunities to play sports such as basketball, football, golf, baseball, ect. However, not everybody had equal opportunities to play sports before there were major changes in sports history. One of these major changes included other ethnicity groups and skin colored people to be allowed to play sports. African American athletes were one of the main groups of people that changed this view. They were not allowed or qualified to play sports because of their skin color and background. Since the 1800’s, African Americans the views of the people in the United States of blacks in sports

He starts by stating the fact that African-Americans make up the majority of the top levels of the three major college sports. Lemmons also points out from a supporting article, by Travis Walton that these particular sports are “the highest revenue-generating sports in college athletics. ”(Lemmons). He even states a risky rhetorical question asking ‘If a majority of these college athletes, who are bringing in staggering amounts of money to these schools were white, would this even be a conversation?’ (Lemmons).

Shaun Powell's book, “Souled Out? How Blacks Are Winning and Losing in Sports” scrutinizes the paradoxes of African-American success in sports. Perturbed predominantly with the erroneous perceived accomplishment of equality through sports across the world, Powell offers his work as a portrayal of the evolution of African-american athletes over time and compares past struggles with modern day issues. Powell discusses how African American’s are both winning and losing in sports, but ultimately emphasizes the negative aspects of the on-going crisis. Powell, a well-known journalist, reviews and discusses how education, professional activism, media, and community relate and affect African-Americans in sports, therefore persuasively conveying his argument.

African American males have excelled in many collegiate sports today. The main sports they are funneled in to excel are football, basketball, and track. In the past, African American men could participate in the sports but were not given respect. Now young African American men are being recruited for their hard work and God-given talents to play on a collegiate team. The demographics of African American athletes in sports especially division I has increased over time. In a 2012 report, African American males compromised 22 percent of all of division I athletics, in football 43.2 percent, and in basketball 57.2 percent (Lapchick, Hoff, and Kaiser 2013). Also, when they progress to the next level demographics show that approximately

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.

The bad image of black athlete is one of the most important problems today. African American athletes are not that different from white athletes; however, media portrays a bad image of them for some unknown reasons. Our world is full of the great African-Americans who showed incredible results in professional sports. On one side, a lot of African-American athletes in the limelight right now come from nothing to somewhat. On the other side, there is a negative connotation that all African Americans have is sports because they are not educated, all they have is natural talent, and all they want is to make the money and not do anything to get there. Television today is often concentrated in stereotype – filled African Americans sitcoms, television news is often shown in negative or crime based stories about black athletes, music & music videos - profanity, misogyny, hard, thugged out. The image is terrible and the reason for that is that media in general just looks at the negative too much.

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

Our young black males gaze at their televisions with eye’s widened full of admiration and awe at the images of professional black athletes living the dream of prosperity and idolism. In surfing the web, pictures, along with interviews and commentaries can be seen and read by the most impressionable minds. With research, I intend to sift through various resources to uncover the effects of the Medias’ portrayal of professional black athletes on the minds of young black athletes. I intend to sift through information to find out if the marketing approach used by the media and sports to portray the success of black athletes hindered young black males from pursuing other facts of economic success.

“While has been a long tradition in development studies types of participation and their effectiveness” (Van, Gyampo). This idea is supported by this evidence blacks athletes are usually given credit for their “natural athleticism”. Whites are given credit for being smart or working hard. African Americans being superior for the most part it do not help them in the in the real world. In 2010, 67% of all NFL players were black and 31% were white. In 2011, in total of 74.8%of the NFL’s league office managements is white. A full 100% of the majority owners in league are white. A total of 22% are black, white 31% head coaches of assistant coaches are black. According to a study by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Statistics From the Current Population Survey Labor,” last year African Americans were represented in a broad range of occupations. For reference, the 16.1 million African Americans working in 2013 made up 11.2 percent of all employed U.S. workers and were approximately 13.2 percent of the population as a whole (Branham,

Are African Americans athletes viewed more negative in the media, compared to white athletes? In this research design I will be researching articles and other media to see if African American athletes are viewed negative, or stereotyped compared to articles or media written about white athletes. I feel this is important because when the public is reading or viewing these articles, they are taking those negatives and stereotypes and applying them to all African American or other racial groups. Typically, these negative portrayals can reinforce these negative stereotypes associated with African Americans. We should care about this because we know not everyone one is treated and given equal treatment and these negative articles and media could be feeding into this, and feeding into stereotypes, and unequal treatment. In my research I will look at articles and see if they write about more negative things when talking about African Americans, compared mostly to whites athletes. I will also research if these articles or media effects how the general public views these athletes. In this research design I will give you my theoretical discussion and hypothesis, where I will give you how I justify my theory that the media is viewing African American negatively and state my hypothesis. Next, I will lay out my nature of my research, and what research I have already did, and what I came away from this research. I will also list what kind of other research I would like to