Racial Issues in American Sports

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On September twenty-second in the year 1862, President Abraham Lincoln executively ordered the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. This command declared the freedom of all slaves in the ten Confederate States of America. Slavery was completely abolished in all states with the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment on December sixth in the year 1865. Since then African Americans have been free to live their lives without being owned, claimed, bought, or sold. Although this was a start, it definitely was not enough for African Americans to be considered equal. With all of the progression African Americans and other minorities have made, there are still obstacles the modern day ethnic-American faces. Some of these obstacles lay within a shared interest amongst Americans, sports. It has been hypothesized in the journal article “Race and Pathways to Power in the National Football League” by author Jomills Henry Braddock II, that a retired African American athlete would face struggles when trying to move into the coaching field or front office positions (Braddock 2012, 712). In the journal article, “Weighing in on the Coaching Decision: Discussing Sports and Race Online,” author Jimmy Sanderson explains to readers that the realm of the sports world has been heavily linked to white ideology (Sanderson 2010, 302). One cannot fully live the American Dream without sustaining successful and promising career goals. It is possible that people of color can get their foot on the first rung of the corporate ladder but actually climbing their way towards the top has proven to be a difficult and almost impossible task. It is evident that affirmative action has not been able to protect minorities from stereotypes and discrimination...

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...g the superior, white-Americans. This proves ethnic-Americans must work twice as hard and twice as longer to be somewhat equal to white-Americans.

Works Cited

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Braddock, Jomills Henry, II, Eryka Smith, and Marvin P. Dawkins. "Race and Pathways to

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Duffer, Mikale J., and Seth L. Feinberg. "Race and the NFL Draft: Views from the Auction Book."

(2008): 53-6.

Sanderson, Jimmy. “Weighing in on the Coaching Decision: Discussing Sports and Race

Online.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology (2010): 302-315.

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