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RACISM IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.
Term Paper ID:28393
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Essay Subject:
Strides made by African Americans over past 50 years. Historical & social contexts of ongoing problems of discrimination, especially at managerial level.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Strides made by African Americans over past 50 years. Historical & social contexts of ongoing problems of discrimination, especially at managerial level.
Paper Introduction:
While there is far less stereotyping and racism in professional sports than there was, fifty years ago with respect to African Americans, and while African Americans have made tremendous strides in many pro sports, some degree of stereotyping and discrimination still remains, though it is far more subtle than in the past. Richard Lapchick writes of the great breakthrough achieved by Jackie Robinson, the first black player to reach the big leagues of professional baseball, but he concludes his Introduction with these starling words:
The book is also the story of how little has changed since Jackie Robinson took that courageous step. America has made many promises to its people. The promise of racial equality is one that has been broken time and time again. Some commentators have said that time is running out, that it is
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Those accomplishing these feats include Jack Johnson,Jackie Robinson, Michael Jordan, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Sugar RayRobinson, Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudolph, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim Brown,Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Hank Aaron, Arthur Ashe, Reggie Jackson,Walter Payton, Doug Williams, Florence Griffith Joyner, and Tiger Woods. Historically, the successes of the past fifty years areremarkable. The success of blacks in coaching, managing, and morewhite-collar positions in those same pro sports has not been as remarkable.This is clearly due in part to the continuing stereotyping of AfricanAmericans in general, and in pro sports specifically. . Of course, the roots of stereotyping and bias against AfricanAmericans in sports are to be found in the institution of slavery whichbegan in the 17th century. . Entrance intopro sports, in the first place, has historically been dependent on successin college sports. Dightman, however, never resented this fact but just kept trying to ride as well as he could. . Vols. that black players weren't allowed in motels where the white players stayed and that the drinking fountains in restaurants still had signs over them that said "Colored only" and "White only." "There were three of us black guys on the Austin ball club," he told me. The fight againstspecific racism in pro sports is not over, but certainly a number ofimportant battles have been won. . and Canada. Richard Lapchick writes ofthe great breakthrough achieved by Jackie Robinson, the first black playerto reach the big leagues of professional baseball, but he concludes hisIntroduction with these starling words: The book is also the story of how little has changed since Jackie Robinson took that courageous step. Robinson, however, even in the face ofhatred designed to provoke him, withstood hatred and taunts to break the color line in our national pastime. In the NBA, 78 percent of head coaches and managers are White while only 22 percent are Black. 3 (New York: Warner,1988), ix. "On A Bull's Back He Had Few Peers." Jan 11, 1999.1 -11.Steinhorn, Leonard, and Barbara Diggs-Brown. [in] what he called their "noble experiment."[7] While clearly the evolution of black participation in professionalsports has reached proportions which would shock both black and whitecitizens of a hundred years ago, Simons and Butow explore one importantfacet of this issue which brings the discussion down to the mostfundamental reality. . Socially, however, they should be seen as an indicator ofincreased black opportunity not merely in sports but in all fields. The bias against blacks did not end with the entrance of a few blackathletes in sports in the decades after World War II. . But Dightman ended up fourth.[1 ] Dightman persevered, gained financial success and professionalrespect, if not the world title, and then mentored a young black, CharlesSampson, from South Central Los Angeles, who did win the world title. Jan 1,1999. [5]Ibid., 11. It was thus no surprise that black club teams never formed. "There is an overemphasis on sports in the black community, and too many black students are putting all their eggs in one basket," says Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint.... The result, say experts, is an obsession with sports among many young African-American males -- often at the expense of the more traditional, if less glamorous, route to upward mobility: education. Racism may exist in the attitude of fans toward certain blackathletes, and in the low number of blacks in management positions, buttoday's situation, while far from perfect, is a tremendous improvement overthe past. The college game set the rules, and everyone else followed. The only black man on the circuit, he rode magnificently all year, handling 5 -pound animals that other riders avoided. The expense of outfitting and renting stadiums was prohibitive. . [8]John Simons and David Butow. Were those fans there because they believedRodman would help the Mavericks win, or because they anticipated a dramaticemotional blowup, for which he has become known as well as for hisrebounding skills. Dightman believed what his mother, Ada Lee, had told him when he was a child: "Honey, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything." It wasn't until he was 33 that he finally learned the limits of his mother's advice: No matter how nice he was to hotel clerks or how well he rode bulls, he would never be treated the same as a white man. Black guys couldn't sit in dining-rooms with white guys, either." He'd hear racial slurs from the stands and from rival players.[6] A major reason for Robinson's success and his place in the pantheonof sports heroes is that he was able to silently withstand the racialhatred of fans and white players. By the Color of Our Skin.New York: Dutton, 1999.----------------------- [1]Richard Lapchick, Broken Promises (New York: St. Broken Promises: Racism in American Sports.New York: St. And, only a handful on the last 179 years have been able to live out their post-athletic lives in peace and prosperity.[2] Ashe's book presents a study of black advances in sports in the faceof bias through several centuries, but a problem with his study is that itis superficial in its treatment, perhaps necessarily so, considering thetime and the number of sports it tries to cover. If young blacks look at these black successes in sports and merelywant to "be like Mike," in terms of limiting their dreams to wealth andfame in pro sports, it will be a tragedy. 1 -11. While there is far less stereotyping and racism in professionalsports than there was, fifty years ago with respect to African Americans,and while African Americans have made tremendous strides in many prosports, some degree of stereotyping and discrimination still remains,though it is far more subtle than in the past. Michael Jordan, on the other hand, is a "good" black man, and asuperior athlete who brought six championships to the Chicago Bulls, onwhich Rodman also played during the championship years. The problems faced by black athletes today are problems whichblack athletes of the past would likely have been grateful to have. [4]Ashe, Vol 1, 99. "Improbable dreams." U.S. [2]Arthur Ashe, Jr., A Hard Road to Glory, Vol. Are they looking forward to a great basketballperformance, or are they hoping they will see a "crazy black man" blow histop? The prejudice which has been worn away in pro basketball, forexample, still remains on the rodeo circuit: African American rodeo rider Myrtis Dightman never won the World Championship when he rode during the 196 s because he was African American. In other words, he broke the stereotypesheld by whites about black men, precisely the kind of stereotypes whichRodman and Tyson play into. Rodman's recent return to pro basketballwas accompanied by a tremendous surge in ticket sales at the games of theDallas Mavericks, his new team. Obviously, both motivations are present, and this fact exposes thecontradiction at the heart of the attitude of management and fans towardblack athletes, especially black athletes who in some way play into thenegative stereotyping of blacks from the past, which survive today,unfortunately, though to a diminished degree. It is crucial to understand that success on the field has nottranslated often enough into success in the management realm: Blacks are highly visible on the playing fields of professional sports, but their numbers are scarce when it comes to positions of coaching and management.... It is a reason for celebration, but only if it iskept in perspective, as Simons and Butow wisely warn. A Hard Road to Glory. [7]Leonard Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown. For young fans who believe that blacks have always had access tosuccess in sports, the historical reality would be a shock. Even after he was barred by a security guard from entering an arena in which he was scheduled to compete. [6]Frayne, 61. [9]Ibid., 49. It's the same for the NFL, where 66 percent of the players are Black, but only 1 percent of the head coaches and managers are Black. . Pro sports present a great contradiction in terms of the way theytreat African Americans. 1 8. Only 31 percent of the players are White, but 9 percent of the coaches and managers are White.[11] Therefore, the success of blacks in sports should be seen in both itshistorical and social contexts, as the authors of the article quoted abovewisely make clear. The white college game was "it," and blacks were a part, even though a quota existed. SinceGrier's groundbreaking success, more than thirty additional blacks haveplayed in the NHL. An article in Sports Illustrated on rodeochampion Myrtis Dightman demonstrates that in the "fringe" sports the samesuccess and/or equal opportunity of larger sports has not been achieved forblacks. "The 2 Greatest Moments In Sports." Dec 1999. During the early part of the century, for instance, the boxing victories of Jack Johnson and Joe Louis served as tangible proof that black men could compete against whites -- and win. "Is There a Double Standard for Blacks in Sports?" May 4, 1998.52-57.Lapchick, Richard. Ebony provides a list of the twenty greatest moments in sports forblack athletes, and while the article does not provide historical context,it does note the amazing feats accomplished by those athletes,demonstrating that negative stereotypes about blacks are not only unfairbut meaningless. These are amazing statistics whichindicate equality, or at least great strides toward equality, at least onthe field. . "On A Bull's Back He Had Few Peers." Jan 11,1999. America has made many promises to its people. Their article is perhaps the most important of all thesources consulted, at least for young blacks who would seek to acquire thesame fame and wealth of a Michael Jordan, or the Williams sisters intennis, or Tiger Woods in golf. Owners employ blacksbecause they are the best athletes in many sports, and because their skillsand talent translate into profits for owners. This is not tominimize the importance of discovering and rooting out every demonstrationof illegal and immoral racism in pro sports wherever possible. Frayne, Trent."Even After Jackie, Progress Comes Slowly." Maclean's, April 28, 1997, 6 -61.Jet. Still, if a feeling is abroad that golf and society are apt to change noticeably in the wake of the Tiger's triumph, there is Robinson's baseball lesson to illustrate how ponderously change moves.[3] Frayne's analysis finds the middle ground of the argumentbetween pessimistic warnings about continued racism and overlyoptimistic claims about blacks finding no racist barriers in prosports. 79 percent of NBA players are Black, and 2 percent are White. His demeanor in the face of hostility, his patience and self- restraint, became the prototype for the image of civil rights activists. The story of hockey player Mike Grier is also inspiring, but shows aswell the lingering racial prejudice in another white-dominated sport. If they use that success as asymbol of their own future success--in their own chosen field, rather thanmerely sports--it will be a blessing. That is more than double the proportion of young white males who hold such beliefs. Even after he was turned away from a hotel that had plenty of empty rooms. Martin's, 1984), ix-x. Grierwas the first African American to play in the National Hockey League. The near-hysteria that accompanied Tiger Woods around the Augusta National golf course at the Masters tournament the other Sunday afternoon was faintly remindful of the appearance of Jackie Robinson in a major-league baseball uniform half a century ago. The same held true for Jackie Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball in 1947.[9] The success of blacks in pro sports, especially over the last fiftyyears, moving from relative invisibility to dominance in the major sports,is a double-edged sword. This success shouldbe a sign that blacks can go as far as their talents, education anddetermination can take them, but few blacks (or whites, for that matter)will ever achieve success in pro sports. The promise of racial equality is one that has been broken time and time again. That role reverses when it comes to coaches and managers. Arthur Ashe, in the three volumes of Hard Road to Glory, acknowledgesthe successes of African Americans in pro sports, but also warns youngblacks that the road to great success is sports is a narrow and treacherousone which far more often disappoints than fulfills: If contemporary black athletes' exploits are more well known [than the exploits of black sports heroes of the past, such as Jack Johnson, Marshall Taylor, Isaac Murphy, or Howard P. He subsequently trained another African American rider who won the World Championship in the 198 s.... ReferencesAshe, Arthur, Jr. News & WorldReport, March 24, 1997, 46. In general, African Americans have achieved great success as playersin the major professional sports, and in some more minor sports--asplayers, that is. 58-77.Sports Illustrated. . As Clarence Gaston (a black major leaguer who rose to manage Toronto)notes, prejudice was rampant against blacks in baseball some two decadesafter Jackie Robinson broke the race barrier in that sport: He remembers . In other words, he takes a realistic stance toward theproblem and comes to the realistic conclusions that history shows a slowbut steady advance toward equality in many sports, that racism neverthelesscontinues to exist and hinder blacks in sports (especially in themanagement realm), and that it will take more than one amazing golfer(Tiger Woods) to open pro golf to African Americans as other sports havebeen opened slowly but surely in the past. News & WorldReport, March 24, 1997, 46-52.Sports Illustrated. Some institutions that had previously featured token blacks shut them out completely and offered no explanation.[4] Without access to college on a mass scale, blacks' successin pro sports was inevitably limited severely. In the season finale, the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City, he was brilliant again, and most people in the arena felt he deserved the world title. In 1968 Dightman competed in more than 1 rodeos in the U.S. Robinson . 52-53.----------------------- 14 . Even after he was forced to get water from "colored" drinking fountains. Some commentators have said that time is running out, that it is five minutes to midnight.[1] Lapchick's discouraging words were written in 1984, and the authorseems to be more pessimistic than necessary because of a series of terribleexamples of racism he witnessed and experienced personally. 1-3. [11]Jet. New York: Warner, 1988.Bowen, Les. 44-45.Ebony. . But Robinson's story was true to the noble Negro image in another way: it involved the paternalistic white man-- Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey . The black man in such a stereotype is a dangerto himself and others, he has a short fuse, he has no emotional orpsychological self-control, etc. Such unrealistic expectations have led many African American youths to focus on sports at the expense of education.... Doing that, he opened the gate for hundreds of black guys to play beside white guys. As the Golden Decade of Sports--as the 192 s were called--played itself out, black gridders were gradually frozen out of the professional game altogether. Thisarticle should be seen as a tale of triumph over prejudice and adversity,and used as incentive for young blacks to achieve success--not necessarilyin sports but in whatever field the individual seeks to pursue. These contradictions with respect to black athletes today stand instark contrast to the past, when blacks were not even allowed toparticipate, much less to be considered for management or ownershippositions. . was the first black to play in the modern major leagues. "Improbable dreams." U.S. "When we'd get to a town like El Paso or Arlington, the three of us had to go out in the country and find a black motel. By the Color of OurSkin (New York: Dutton, 1999), 164. The authors point out that while African-Americans are indeed "a dominant presence in professional sports" beyondthe dreams of blacks only fifty or even fewer years ago, young blacks mayironically suffer as a result of that incredible success of a few highlygifted and dedicated black athletes: Although only 1 in 1 , high school athletes will become a professional athlete, 66% of black males between age 13 and 18 believe they can become a professional athlete. Branch Rickey of the Los Angeles Dodgers might have trulysought justice for blacks in sports, but he certainly also recognized thathaving a masterful athlete such as Jackie Robinson on his team was going towin games and draw more fans who would spend more money and increasecorporate profits. [1 ]Sports Illustrated. Discrimination, vilification, incarceration, dissipation, ruination, and ultimate despair have dogged the steps of the mightiest of these heroes. Of course, individualblack athletes such as Joe Louis achieved fame and wealth earlier in thecentury, but team sports at the professional level, having access to thelargely white population of fans, remained a closed door until the 195 s.Ashe notes as well that "the most well-known black athletes south of theMason-Dixon Line before the Civil war were jockeys and trainers."[5]Nevertheless, prejudice against blacks prevented them from entering teampro sports on a meaningful level until well into the 2 th century. who supported and protected Robinson . Jordan has a "good"attitude and that, combined with winning, gave him steady popularity withthe fans and management, and, recently, won him part ownership of a probasketball team, a position which it is unlikely that either Rodman or thecoach-choking Sprewell will ever attain. Then, as now, there was the notion that a statement was being made whose ramifications reached beyond a mere game. The boxing ring became a proxy for other societal arenas from which blacks were excluded. Blacks were seen not only as tools of theeconomic system, to be exploited without regard to justice, morality orhumanity, but as targets of hatred and abuse of every imaginable sort.Although there may have been some good white men who sought to use theirpower to bring about greater equality for blacks in sports, the entrance ofblacks into professional sports in the 2 th century was primarily theresult of rich white men seeing the economic advantages in such adevelopment. Myrtis Dightman always believed. African-Americans compose 13 percent of the population, but in professionalbasketball, football, and baseball, blacks far exceed that percentage.Eighty percent of the National Basketball Association's rosters are black,67% of the National Football League's players are black, and 17% of themajor leaguers in baseball are black. However,great strides have been made to bring greater justice to African Americansin pro sports, and such strides need to be acknowledged. . In the first decades of the twentieth century, blacksexperienced some success in college football, but that success was limitedand temporary: Blacks earned a toehold [in] football, the only major team sport that accepted them so early. Faced with the historic indignities of racism and segregation, blacks came to view sports as a source of inspiration. [3]Trent Frayne, "Even After Jackie, Progress Comes Slowly."Maclean's, April 28, 1997, 6 . Martin's, 1984.Simons, John, and David Butow. Thereare exceptions, of course. The college and university were and are training andproving grounds for athletes hoping to move into the professional realm.Due to the fact that blacks did not have the same access to colleges anduniversities, for social, economic and educational reasons, they wereobviously and historically shut out of the opportunity to succeed inprofessional sports. The attitude of the sportspublic toward black athletes seems to be based on the attitude of theathlete himself--as well as whether or not he is perceived to be a"winner." In other words, a black athlete with an "attitude" (e.g., DennisRodman, Mike Tyson, Latrell Sprewell) will be accepted by fans as long ashe wins or helps the hometeam win. Because of stereotypes about the capabilities of Blacks beyond the playing field, many of them do not even get a chance to show what they can do in coaching and management positions.... Nevertheless, it is a finereference work. On the otherhand, racism continues to exist in those sports, between players, betweenplayers and fans, between players and management. A special feature in Sports Illustrated, while also failing toprovide a broader historical context, nevertheless makes clear, in listingthe greatest athletes in the major sports in the 2 th Century, that AfricanAmericans in most of those sports were not only present but dominant. Black parents also are four times more likely than white parents to believe that their children are destined for careers in professional athletics.[8] Certainly blacks should be proud of the athletic and economicaccomplishments made by a relatively few blacks in pro sports. "His Heart Said Hockey." Sports Illustrated for Kids. Frayne writes that the success of a black golfer, Tiger Woods, giveshope that "a new generation of Black golfers are on the horizon," but theauthor warns that despite the acclaim heaped upon Woods, "change comesslowly." Frayne applies the lesson of baseball to the case of golf andother sports: Although Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball more than 5 years ago, baseball management is still dominated by whites. Certainly blacks comprise a large number ofplayers, some of the best players in fact, in pro sports. drew], few fully appreciate their true Hard Road to Glory. "A Gathering of Greats." November 29, 1999. However, it will be a destructive result of that success if alltoo many young blacks put their dreams in pro sports instead of ineducation:These black players and their dizzying salaries -- together with the media and advertisers who feed on them -- have created the impression among many lower-income blacks that there are unlimited opportunities on the nation's hard courts, diamonds, and gridirons. "Is There a Double Standard for Blacks in Sports?" May 4,1998.
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