Examples Of Segregation In Friday Night Lights

Racism and racial segregation has been something that our society applied to most individuals for quite a bit of time. People have been absolutely cruel towards one another and things are finally starting to change. Racial segregation and racism will take parts throughout this text, because one of the main areas it has been witnessed in till this day is sports. The main topic that this essay will be refering to is Friday Night Lights,  by the director Peter Berg. The first major idea that will be discussed is the disrespectful and lowering comments that were said about black people during the movie. The second idea is how most back players in the team are considered players and nothing else. Last but not least, the tension between coaches due to whether teams should be seperated all black or all white and races should not be mixed. Race still till this day have a

pretty big impact on conversations about athletic. Some changes must come.

    First of all, as mentionned in the introduction above, the use of disrespectful comments about black people was the first thing from the movie that showed signs of racism in sports. In one of the very early scenes where the coach is having dinner with other individuals, Boobie Miles comes into subject. One of the ladies affirms to coach that he should put him in defense, as a line backer. Meanwhile, Eric tries to nicely explain to the lady that he does not want to risk Miles to get hurt. Her answer: “That big nigger ain’t gonna break” (15 min. 41 seconds). This comment is absolutely disparaging and had no judgment what so ever. Injuries should not be banalised in a sport such as football. Anything can happen at any time, no matter the size, shape or colour of the individual playing. This criticism was one of the first signs of racism in the movie. Not only does she make this comment, but afterwards, she starts affirming that if they really want to beat Midland Lee the coach needs to “play him middle linebacker” (15 min. 44 sec.). She assums that because Boobie is much bigger, like the other black guys, putting him defense is the only way to make the team win. This shows that racial segregation really can still be found in any situation, anywhere and for ridiculous reasons such as winning a football game. Racism, as shown, can easily be shown through language with hate comments or criticism that are simply said to denigrate whole group of individuals.

    Second of all, the black athletes of the team in the movie are considered as the “quarter back” or the “linebacker”.

They are considered numbers more than they are considered actual people. As the movie plays by, there is emphasis on this fact. The players themselves start thinking that football is all they have and that without the sport they are nothing and no one. A good example of this behaviour is when Boobie goes to the stadium to pick up the things he left in his locker.He tries to stay calm, to show strength, but inside he is broken. Once he gets in the car with his uncle, he starts sobbing and says: “Now what are we gonna do? I can’t do nothin’ else but play football.” (1 hour 12 min.). He says how he wanted to buy his uncle a house but that it is not possible anymore because he cannot play football anymore. This scene really shows that it has been put in the head of those players that they really are nothing else but positions. The same kind of manners were shown in a study demonstrated in the article Michael E. Lomax called The African American Experience in Professional

Football.
“These classifications did not refer to spatial relationships, but rather to the frequency of interaction among the players. They demonstrated that black athletes were channeled into peripheral positions. They became running backs, wide receivers, and defensive backs. From these positions, both black and Hispanic players were less likely to move on, after retirement, to managerial roles.”

This research shows just like in the movie that the race in minority have, throughout critics and years of practice in the sport, found their identity. The problem is that this identity is based on a position and a number. Unfortunately, it also is based on racism and judgment from a race to another.

    Finally, the last major idea that shows the impact of races in sports is a debate that took part between the coaches towards the end of the movie. Both coaches have very different perceptions of what kind of players a good football team should consist of.  Meanwhile, Permian Panthers coach think that his team is great, the other coach opposes to the idea of mixing white individuals with black individuals in the same team. He also affirms that both community will not get along together in the stadium, because they have an all black community. He says it is “different”. Coach Eric then compares the communities to zebras. He explains that zebras are equally black and white. Unfortunately, the others do not agree with his thinking. As tension builds up, the other teams coach has closed his mind to the idea of mixing the two groups of people together. This tension demonstrate a way racial segregation has influence not only on the athletes putting in the effort, but also on the crowd and the fans. It shows how no matter the solutions that some people may find, more problems will persist as long as racism is in the mind of our society.