“A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene” is an article regarding the often argued subjects of sports, race, and genetics. It refers to the book “Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We’re Afraid to Talk About It” and how it is a crude approach to the subjects. With the article, we learn that race has nothing to do with our talents and mere observation of differences is not considered a genetic argument. We are drawing conclusions from a mass of poorly controlled data, giving poor evidence and end results. The article also discusses the relationship between patterns of human genetic variations and groups of people.
To be an athlete, one must have the want to become a great athlete. Without practice and work hard, it will show
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in ones’ performance. Having long legs does not inevitably make you a great runner or team player. Johnathan Marks discusses how observation of differences is not a genetic argument. There is more to being an athlete than simple biology. Yes, having certain physical characteristics like longer legs and a shorter torso can greatly improve one's chances of becoming a runner, but there is also a mental aspect that comes into play. One has to have drive and determination. Not every African American male is tall, slender, and athletic and not every Caucasian male is smart and chubby. Humans have all the same basic genetic build. The color of our skin, the shape of our bodies, certain features are all made up of the same DNA just different gene codes. A laser printer and inkjet printer are very much different printing processes, but in the end, they are still the same machine. “In other words, there is a lot more to being black and to being a prominent athlete than mere biology.
If professional excellence or over-representation could be regarded as evidence for genetic superiority, there would be strong implications for Jewish comedy genes and Irish policeman genes.” (2000, …show more content…
Marks) Consider the environment and how one is raised. An African American male brought up in a wealthy community may be great at golf instead of football. A white male brought up in the country where football is life, he may go on to becoming an NFL player. A stereotypical Chinese man is considered to be short, smart, and not very athletic. Yao Ming is a Chinese retired pro basketball player in the CBA and NBA. In his final season, he was the tallest active NBA player at 7 feet 6 inches. His parents were also tall, both being former professional basketball players themselves. I believe growing up in a home already in love with basketball, he would have eventually done something with basketball, whether it was to play or some other contribution to the sport. Drawing conclusions from a mass of poorly controlled data are what we are faced with scientifically. Years of racial stereotyping and being told which race is good and/or bad at certain subjects, we are unable to get a good, controlled study. If young African American males are continuously told how they should act, what they should like, etc., how are we to measure the natural talents one may have? If a white male child is told he is better at math than he is sports because his body isn’t physically correct for the type of sports he wants to play, how can we determine if this white male has what it takes to become an athlete? “Has what it takes?” What does that even mean? As stated earlier, I believe it has a lot to do with ones’ mental take and drive on certain subjects and activities. Even then, a child could have that drive but is hampered by constant stereotyping. Forcing them to give up on their dreams and pursue other activities they were “taught” they would be good at. “Controls are crucial in science: If every black schoolboy in America knows he's supposed to be good at basketball and bad at algebra, and we have no way to measure schoolboys outside the boundaries of such an expectation, how can we gauge their ''natural'' endowments? Lots of things go into the observation of excellence or failure, only one of which is a genetic endowment. “ (2000, Marks) I have been subject to this type of “teachings” in middle school. It was the first year, us as students, would be in a band class. From a provided list, we were asked t chose which instrument we would like to play. Later we would be told if we were selected to be apart of the band and which instruments we were chosen for. I really wanted to play the drums or the trumpet, but I wasn’t picked for either. Instead, I was chosen to play the trombone because I had full lips that would be perfect for the mouth piece of this instrument. I was in 5th grade when this happened. To tell a young female her lips were perfect for playing an instrument, I feel had some negative effects on me. I was really good at playing the trombone, but I never learned how to play the drums, something I’d still love to learn. Furthermore, I feel it started my obsession with how I looked and how my physical appearance affects my everyday life. It opened my eyes to how people judge others based on physical appearances. There is a complicated relationship between human genetic variations and groups of people.
We are born equally in a sense of basic DNA structures. Genes passed down from parents determine physical appearance. African American males who are athletic come in all shapes and sizes. Shaquille O’Neal is an NBA star known for his huge body height and stance. He is 7 feet 1 inches tall and weighs about 325lbs. He was one of the heaviest players to ever play in the NBA. Kobe Bryant is also an NBA player, but is 6 feet 6 inches and weighs only 212lbs. This is a significant difference in size and shape of the body, even though they are both African American males. Not all African American males in the NBA are tall. Most NBA players have an average height of 6 feet 7 inches, but there are numerous players who were under 6 feet. A well-known player by the name of Tyrone Bogues is the shortest man to ever play in the NBA. At 5 feet 3 inches, Tyrone used his height and small stature to his advantage. He was fast on the court and a great passer. He played for 10 years and become one of the most popular players for the Charlotte Hornets. Even though his physical appearance was not what a stereotypical basketball player was, he still dominated the sport and became widely known for his performance and
play. “…it undermines the achievements of individuals as individuals. Whatever gifts we each have are far more likely, from what we know of genetics, to be unique individual constellations of genes than to be expressions of group endowments.” (2000, Mark) One thing that interested me about the article was the sense of being completely against genetics being a reason for our talents. I understand assuming a tall person is better at basketball than a shorter individual is wrong, but there are still physical and mental characteristics that help a person be better at said talents. I have been playing video games my whole life. I can play for hours, non-stop, for days. I’m good at playing, but my hand-eye coordination isn’t as good as others. My husband, who barely plays, can get in a match with me and slaughter my character until the end of the match. I believe he has better hand-eye coordination than me and therefore is better at playing the video games even though he doesn’t play them quite as often as I do. Isn’t having good hand-eye coordination a genetic trait? How might I apply these lessons from the article in my own area of study? With computer graphics being a part of visual communications, like advertising and marketing, one needs to know about stereotypes and how to avoid them in ads and marketing campaigns. Knowing how to handle sensitive topics and issues with correct visuals help companies and individuals portray their ideas appropriately. In conclusion, race does not determine if you’re a great athlete or not. If a certain race is more dominate in a certain field, it does not mean that as a whole, that race is far superior to others. It’s the individual that takes it to the extreme, works hard, and practices. Who knows their own strength and their weakness, not what someone has told them.
A Summary of William Raspberry’s “The Handicap of Definition” Paris Owens Essay2: Second Summary En112c.002 A Summary of William Raspberry’s “The Handicap of Definition” In “The Handicap of Definition” William Raspberry emphasizes the stereotype of what it means to be Black. Raspberry uses many beliefs that has taken a toll on African Americans on the definition of being Black. Raspberry uses many comparisons to compare blacks to whites and other ethnics. He begins off by using basketball as an example. Raspberry quotes, “If a basketball fan says that Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird plays black the fan intends it and Bird probably accepts it as a compliment”(543). He also emphasizes “if you tell a white broadcaster he talks black he’ll sign up for diction lessons”(543). Raspberry explains how many children think hard study and hard work are white (543). He tells how scrimping today in the interest of tomorrow’s goals is white”(543). Raspberry uses many of these comparisons in the essay. Raspberry talks about incredible array of habits done by different ethnic groups. He confesses “…black youngsters tend to do better at basketball, for instance, is that they assume they can learn to do it well, and so they practice constantly to prove themselves right (543). Raspberry emphasizes the importance of developing positive ethnic traditions (544). He tells how people suspect Jews have an innate talent for communications (544). People make assumption that Chinese are born with a gift f...
In sports, there is no shortage of black success stories. Meanwhile, two black men of prominence in Odessa (who are not athletes) fell from grace. Willie Hammond Jr. (the first black city councilor and county commissioner) and Laurence Hurd (a minister and desegregation supporter) were glimmers of hope for the black community that were both snuffed out. Hammond was arrested on charges of arson conspiracy and perjury and Hurd is in prison for burglary and robbery, leaving a hole in the morale of the black community that was not repaired. These losses, combined the with negative news of black people circulated via media, made the possibility of succeeding in a white man’s world inconceivable. Yet, there is no shortage of black success stories in sports, like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson; in every area that is not a “rich man’s sport”, black athletes dominate. To the poor children on the Southside, there is something very alluring about the “Cinderella stories” of men from poor black neighborhoods rising to prominence through sports. Based on these examples, there seem to only be two paths for a black teen to take: criminal or athlete. Many of these teens aspire to be sports stars and depend on nothing else because there is nothing else. Some may become the superstars they hope to be or they fall into ruin as Boobie Miles, Derric Evans, and Gary Edwards
To start off my interpretation analysis of the first two chapters in their book, I will begin by stating a classification I have personally received. In the beginning pages of chapter number one, the authors go on in explaining the misclassification of how the skin color, physical attributes, or origin of a person decide how good they are in physical activity; being Latino, most specifically coming from a Dominican background, people always assumed I was or had to be good in Baseball. This classification always bothered me; one, simply because I hate baseball, to me personally is one of the most boring sports in the planet, and second because my strong physical ability still to this point in life is running. Throughout my High School years, people always seemed shocked when they found out I belonged to the track team instead of the baseball team. There was one occasion, where someone said I was a disgrace to the Dominican Republic, simply because I was not good at striking a ball with a baseball bat. As I reflect on this idea and personal experience, I have found this to be one of the strongest points in chapter one of “Racial Domination, Racial Progress: The Sociology of Race in America”. This is due to in part, because perhaps I can relate to it personally, and because in the world of sports is one of the most frequent things commentators will rely on to explain a team’s or individual success. Apart from the point of sports and physical attributes, the authors also go on in elaborating how this belief of how a person looks, has resulted in dangerous practices in the medical field. This is particularly shocking to
The issue of race in sport is somewhat baffling in that many people would rather not address at all even though sport has been intricately intertwined with racial issues throughout the Twentieth century. Those who would have us omit the topic altogether argue that analyses typically single out the black athlete, and then attempt to explain his/her inordinate success in ways different than we do with other groups. Critics contend that this is racist, since it perpetuates the idea that blacks are different, and often inferior. Edwards (1972) asserts that a typical theme resulting from such analysis is that blacks are physically superior, but intellectually inferior, to whites. Hoberman (1997) has further made the case that physical prowess, especially in such sports as basketball, has become a defining characteristic of the African-American community, and that beliefs about physical superiority are closely related to an anti-intellectualism that permeates black male culture. Essentially, Hoberman’s argument is that inordinate attention and idolization of prominent black athletes such as Michael Jordan has focused attention away from more realistic and important role models, and this, in turn has stunted intellectual, and social economic development in black communities.
Walton, John C. The Changing Status of the Black Athlete in 20th Century United States. 1996. 21 April 2014 .
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
“African Americans have just as amount of chance of becoming a professional athlete as he or she winning the lottery”. This so called goal of theirs is unrealistic and is highly impossible. There are so many sports athletes but majority of them are of a different c...
Sports have served as a platform on which the subject of race has been highlighted. Sports have unfailingly been considered the microcosm of society. This is because the playing fields have revealed the dominant culture’s attitudes and beliefs that people held about race relations throughout history in the United States. Many racial barriers were broken in the world of sports long before they were crossed in the realm of mainstream society as a whole. From Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball during the year of 1947 to Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists clad in black gloves during the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics, sports have started conversations about race in the United States that have undeniably changed the course of race relations in the United States.
“We are more visible, but not more valuable”. This famous quote was said by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the most famous black basketball players, symbolized what many black athletes were pursuing when they first got into sports. In today’s world not only are black athletes a part of our sports venue, they are dominating the landscape of some sports such as the NBA which consists of a whopping 80% black athletes. Black athletes continue to revitalize sports in America as some athletes became the face of their sports such as Muhammad Ali in boxing, Jackie Robinson in baseball and Michael Jordan in basketball. Sports came as a form of entertainment for many Americans, but for black athletes it came as a pathway to express who they were and what they believed in. The more they became involved in sports, the more media they were able to attract which enabled them to talk about topics other than sports such as racism, their religions and equality through the civil rights movement. These views and statements made in their interviews and press conferences were the ones that became publicized and more popular amongst the typical white men in America and it played a huge role in changing the way blacks were viewed in American society.
The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the The African American quest for equity in sports. American sports: From the age of folk games to the age of televised sports (5th ed.). (pp. 62-63). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afores Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Spalding, Albert G. (n.d.).
We classify one another in four or five classes based on features and judge one another’s internal abilities based on race (Adelman and Herbes-Sommers 2003). We are quick to simplify the complexity of an individual based on physical features and what we assume to be correct. As stated in episode one, there is nothing biological to justify race (Adelman and Herbes-Sommers 2003). There is no chromosome or trait that can be singled out to say a group or a race is better at any particular activity. But, as a society we want to use and manipulate science to say one race is superior. The same ‘science’ that proves positive qualities in the dominate race, is used to diminish the equity in the minorities time and hard work in their craft. African Americans are overall known to excel at athletics. White Americans wanted to link race to athletic ability (Adelman and Herbes-Sommers 2003). Those in power, the dominate race, want to demean the hard work of an individual in a minority race. The majorities say there is a certain trait that allows ‘their kind’ to be good at a particular activity, not that the individually worked hard and put in the rigorous hours to be successful.
Miller, Patrick B. Wiggins, David K. Sport and the color line: Black athletes and Race relations in Twentieth-century America. 2004. The Journal of Southern History 70 (4) (Nov 2004): 990.
Sports specialization among young people is when a child or teenager trains for and competes in only one sport. They work extremely hard year-round in order to become well-rounded in every aspect of the game. They make sacrifices and put their health in jeopardy in order to become the ultimate participant in their sport. One of the many young athletes who is only participating in and focusing on one sport is fifteen-year-old OJ Mayo from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the young talented athlete who is predicted to be the next LeBron James in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This young athlete provides evidence of striving for perfection in this single sport when reviewing his daily schedule versus that of his siblings. He says, “The other kids go home and sleep. I come back to the gym” (Thompson, 2004). He is obviously putting forth a lot of effort in his sport to become successful at an early age.
In the beginning, there were originally six teams that was formed in the professional league. This would later change and have the National Basketball Association form in 1946. The team that was popular to many people back in the early stages of the formation of the NBA was the Boston Celtics and they wanted to immediately sign players. In 1950, Earl Lloyd would be the first African American to play in the NBA. “Mr. Lloyd was the first of the three to play in a game, when the Capitols opened the season on Oct. 31, 1950, in Rochester, N.Y., against the Rochester Royals”(Washingtonpost.com). The first African American women did not play until 1985 since there wasn’t a professinal league until the 80s and 90s hit. “In 1985, Lynette Woodard became the first woman to play for the Globetrotters”(aaregistry.org). Although there were other leagues that women play back in the early ages of the 1900s but professionally Lynette Woodard would be the first African American to play in a professional league. We can all look back and see that Earl Lloyd and Lynette Woodard showed history in it’s making that he is one of the reason on showing people that discrimination in race doesn’t matter in
North America is, and always has been, an ethnically diverse society. Yet this cultural diversity along religious, ethnic and national lines had been tolerated only in a limited degree, end even only on the dominant Anglo-Saxon elite?s terms.? (Eisen and Wiggins, 1994, p. xii). History books repeatedly show this in their pages. A person can not pick up a history book and read through the pages with out finding something on how a particular athlete or group of athletes were persecuted because of their race. Part of the American dream that is taught to our youth of is freedom, equality and the ability to move ahead in life if a person is motivated to do so. It is unfortunate that this isn?t the case; that is unless the person fits into the right sociological group.