Throughout the years, there has been many different disgusting racists acts, among every platform of American sports. Whether these acts have been committed by fans, players, staff, or owners, one thing is for sure, there is no place for that in any game. As interesting as it may sound, players are not the often the ones degrading or segregating other athletes. The people that do this are often onlookers, that don’t play the game. After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, racism from other players slowly dwindled year by year, until blacks were fully integrated into professionals. Now that everyone has equal opportunities, it has frequently been the onlookers that cause the issues. Modern American sports have been around for hundreds of …show more content…
Ewing was considered the best player in college basketball at the time. He was often the subject of disrespectful jeers, signs and shirts at arenas on the road. One specific game was a road game against the Villanova Wildcats. During introductions, a banana peel was thrown at him, and when the game started, there were many disrespectful remarks aimed at the seven foot tall player. One fan had a shirt that read, “Ewing Kant Read Dis,” and a sign was also being passed around, with the message, “Ewing is an Ape.” The president of Georgetown University tried to brush it off and avoid conflicts, by simply saying, “It’s cheap, racist stuff.” However a professor of sociology at Cal Berkeley was quoted saying, "But in 1983, for people to be throwing bananas on the floor, to be calling out these ugly racial epithets, I think it's unconscionable . . . These people are sick, they are not crazy.” This treatment made Ewing mad, especially because, fans from these places desperately wanted him to come to their school, but when he didn’t, they changed their opinions, and considered him to be illiterate, stupid, along with many other offensive labels. Even as blacks had become more common in sports, the drastic racism continued throughout, even at the college …show more content…
Donald Sterling was the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team. During the 2015 playoffs, Sterling was caught on a recording making racist remarks to his girlfriend. He was basically harassing her about bringing black men to his team’s basketball games, and telling her to stop posting pictures with black men to her Instagram. This situation sparked much more outcry around the league than anything else, even sparking protests. Clippers coach Doc Rivers refused to try to settle the issue with Sterling, especially during the team’s playoff run. The NBA’s best player, and face of the league, LeBron James, was quoted saying, “There’s no room for Donald Sterling in our league.” The most surprising fallout from this situation was the punishment. The NBA’s new Commissioner, Adam Silver, was faced with his first true test. Players, coaches, and fans all waited to see what Silver would do, and he did not back down. Commissioner Silver decided that there was no place for racist antics like this in the NBA, and chose to fine Sterling $2.5 million, as well as banning him for life from the NBA. The response from anybody involved in the league was nothing but positive. This was one of the biggest acts of racism to be countered and punished this hard, and was a huge step in the right direction for the NBA, as well as standing up to
From this point Boobie Miles would be the victim of racial abuse. He was left on the bench and was racially abused by fans of his own school.
Bill Russell grew up in an extremely racist time in America in an extremely racist state. Born in Louisiana and raised both there and in Oakland, California; Russell and his family battled the every day hardships that most black people faced at that time. But Russell always had a set of morals and guidelines that he led his life by, many of which he learned from his father, who he says was his hero and biggest role model. These morals revolved around independence and a very classic “ I will not allow anyone to impose their will on me.” (Page 56, paragraph 1) These morals followed and shaped him in his playing and coaching career.
Many Americans have seen or at least heard of the movie “Remember the Titans.” The classic film focuses on a school that is blending black and whites and taking on an African American head coach. The coach knows the importance of winning, but also knows the team must work together to get those wins and have respect for every single person in the locker room. Although coach Boone was still put in a tough situation with the school board and the community, he was able to lead his team, with the help of a white assistant coach, to an undefeated season. The team coming together is exactly what America does with sports. Most everybody can come together and enjoy sporting events. By saying “everybody”, that includes all races: white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and so on. Sports are America’s past, present, and
It was then argued that it was not the league’s right to suspend the basketball player even if his opinion was offensive to others, but he still had the religious freedom to express his opinions as stated in the American constitution.... ... middle of paper ... ... This could be argued by the simple fact that the legal system (despite being a supposedly emotionless system), is in fact, based highly on emotion.
Coakley, J. J. (2007). Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Historical and sociological research has shown, through much evidence collection and analysis of primary documents that the American sporting industry can give an accurate reflection, to a certain extent, of racial struggles and discrimination into the larger context of American society. To understand this stance, a deep look into aspects of sport beyond simply playing the game must be a primary focus. Since the integration of baseball, followed shortly after by American football, why are the numbers of African American owners, coaches and managers so very low? What accounts for the absence of African American candidates from seeking front office and managerial roles? Is a conscious decision made by established members of each organization or is this matter a deeper reflection on society? Why does a certain image and persona exist amongst many African American athletes? Sports historians often take a look at sports and make a comparison to society. Beginning in the early 1980’s, historians began looking at the integration of baseball and how it preceded the civil rights movement. The common conclusion was that integration in baseball and other sports was indeed a reflection on American society. As African Americans began to play in sports, a short time later, Jim Crow laws and segregation formally came to an end in the south. Does racism and discrimination end with the elimination of Jim Crow and the onset of the civil rights movement and other instances of race awareness and equality? According to many modern sports historians and sociologists, they do not. This paper will focus on the writings of selected historians and sociologists who examine th...
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.
One of the major stands that were made during a black athlete’s tenure during his or her sport were their statements on racism. Racism in America was an ongoing situation in the 1900’s that seemed to have no resolve before black athletes took a stand. One prime example can be Jackie Robinson who became the first African-American athlete to play baseball in the modern era. Jackie grew up in one of the most racist towns in Pasadena, California and came from a poor family as his parents were sharecroppers and...
First, Bill Russell, the first African American National Basketball Association player to attain superstar standing, encountered a serious amount of discrimination from people battling the fact that he was an extraordinary basketball player. Born into a racist community in West Monroe, Louisiana, Russell was lived his entire childhood strictly segregated, causing him to become sensitive to the all racial prejudice which ...
Discrimination and segregation of African Americans had existed for generations. Whites and blacks were separated in schools, churches, on buses, in restaurants and on the playing fields. In the early 1900’s, there was not only continued bias towards African Americans; many lived in contiguous neighborhoods, minimizing interaction with other Americans. Sports where African Americans once demonstrated dominance such as cycling and horse racing discriminated also. Cyclist Marshall “Major” Taylor at one time dominated American cycling until “jealous white rivals colluded to force Taylor to see his sustenance in Europe by 1901” (Wiggins, p.158) Taylor was a pioneer for African American athletes. He “overcame the constraints of a society bounded by the racial hypocrisy...
The National Basketball Association is the most popular professional basketball league in North America; it is also the most popular professional basketball league in the world. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the most diverse businesses in the world, which was the deliberate plan of former NBA commissioner David Stern. The NBA was once an all white and male dominated league, now through years of an aggressive effort to diversify the organization the NBA is now one of the shining beacons for diversity, tolerance and acceptance in the workplace. Former NBA commissioner David Stern spearheaded and put into action on the best examples of creating and cultivation opportunities for success based on merit. “When David Stern steps down as NBA Commissioner in 2014, among the legacies he will have created is an era in professional sport when leagues and teams hired the best people possible. He embraced the moral imperative for diversity while helping to show the other leagues that diversity is also a business imperative. The evidence for the NBA’s continued commitment to racial equality is seen in the strong grades in the League Office and in many key areas on the team level.”(Lapchick, R.) To fully understand the transformation of the league we will cover the history of the association, team diversity, league diversity, the NBA diversity initiative, and current diversity issues.
The research states that adaptation and dominant groups may still bring about different outcomes to the ethnicity involvement in sport management. This article focuses mainly on how racism in sports industry can be resolved. It describes some solutions, which includes policies and programs for sports organizations. These will help in promoting racial diversity in sport management. This research concluded with the notion of implicating such policies for minimizing racism in the management of sport Therefore, Doherty and Chelladurai (1999) describe that racial diversity varies in different sports and sports organizations.
Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.
Jackie Robinson was a prominent figure in American history as he broke the color line, and was the first black athlete to play in a white league. Americans believed this would stop racism in the future and integrate all sports, but racism has planted its roots in sports ever since 1947. The NBA is a professional basketball league and has been very popular in the United States since its creation. The sport is enjoyed by all races although most of the players are of African American race. During recent events, L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling was caught making racist remarks in an audio recording. He was frustrated that his girlfriend was hanging with other African Americans, even the great NBA legend Magic Johnson. He wanted her not to bring African Americans to his games and not to broadcast it on Instagram. He stated, " Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to promo-broadcast that you're associating with black people. Do you have to (Sterling)?" He also complained, " But why publicize it on the Instagram and why bring it to my games (Sterling)?" After the release of the recordings, the NBA community was in an uproar. In protest, the player of the Clippers wore their training jerseys inside out (Moore). As a result, Adam Silver , commissioner of the NBA, banned Donald Sterling for life. Sterling could not attend nor part...
In a society filled with people that strongly believe that sports is an industry that is removed and immune from the ills of the world—racism. Many fans and spectators of sports, such as baseball, basketball, football, and many other sports that include players of different races and ethnicities considers that racism is a thing of the past because of the inclusion and acceptance of all races in different sports. However, the misconception of living in a post-racial (colorblind) world is prevalent. Even though racial discrimination in sports and society in general, are not overt as in the past, racism continues to plague the industry. Regardless of fans and spectators wanting to ignore the racial biases and discrimination in the sports industry,