Aison Epstein
Crouse/Rostolsky
Lit/Comp 9 5th period
21 February, 2017
Synopsis: Discrimination in Sports How does discrimination take it’s toll in the world of sports? Some people think that racism is not evident in the current sports world. The truth is that on a daily basis, discrimination negatively affects many athletes because of their race, sex, and appearance . Racism is still noticeable in the world of sports and even impacts some of the greatest athletes in the world. In Richard Larchicks ESPN publish he writes “Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Derrick Rose were among many prominent athletes who took public stands on social issues in 2014”(Lapchick 1). Now more than ever athletes are taking stands on social issues. Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Derrick Rose,
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Today we live in a world where appearance plays a large role in one's life.People are judged on their appearance on a daily basis and athletes are supposed to have picture perfect bodies. This is especially hard for female athlete because sometimes they are looked upon as too muscular, too thin, too large, or even too tall. In 16 times Female athletes had to put up with sexist b***s*** this judgement and disrespect is shown when the author quotes “In effort to help them look more feminine, the International Amatuer Boxing Association (IABA) provided female boxers with athletic skirts to box in”(Tamarkin 2). This was incredibly disrespectful and degrading. Woman shouldn’t be forced to wear anything to make them look more “feminine”, in fact women should wear what they whatever they want to wear. In addition a weightleifter named Holley Mangold’s weight was tweeted about by comedian Conan Obrien. In the tweet he said “I predict 350 lb weight lifter will bring home the gold and 4 guys against their will”(Tamarkin 4). Once again women should not have to deal with demeaning comments about their
As a result, in the world of sports and recreation, sport managers still face one of the most important issues that deal with racial diversity (Smith & Hattery, 2011). It has become an important practice for sports managers to manage racial diversity (Rich & Giles, 2015).
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...
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.
The Civil Rights Era impacted the realm of sports in a great and powerful way. Throughout the mid 1900s, many minority athletes emerged through all odds and began to integrate themselves in the white dominated athletic business. These athletes endured constant hardships in order to achieve their goals and dreams; facing much racism, segregation, and violence. Minorities across the country began to look up to these sportsmen and realized that anybody could attain greatness despite the social troubles of the time. Stories depicting the struggles of minority athletes soon arose and grew popular among different cultures. These true accounts passed from generation to generation, each admiring the courage and bravery of athletes and how important they became in obtaining an equal society. Producers and directors soon found a way to revolutionize the film industry by retelling the racial discrimination that minority athletes faced. Remember the Titans, The Perfect Game, 42, and The Express are all examples of how minority athletes overcame racial adversities in order to obtain the championship. These Hollywood movies contain many inaccuracies that draw away from the true impact minority athletes had during the Civil Right Era. Although these films do depict the racial components of the time, they do not depict the accurate occurrences of the stories they try to recreate.
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.
Fast-forward to 1982. By this time, African-Americans had already established themselves as the premier athletes in the American sports world. Society accepted this, and therefore, newspapers respected it. America was now more colorblind. One would be pressed to find a sports page in the United States that did not have an article on an African-American athlete. Although society was by no means living in complete racial harmony in 1982, the newspapers did not show any obvious racial bias. It was, however, a much better world for the African-American, and one could decipher all this by simply picking up the sports page in the morning.
Gender discrimination is prominent in every industry, but it is as though the sport industry is one of the worst. Women in the work force currently receive only 80 cents to every man’s dollar (Holmes, 2016). However, female athletes both in America and internationally receive a far lesser compensation for their attributes. The only difference of the sports being played is who plays them. There should be no reason why a male athlete receives better pay simply because he had a 50% chance of being born a man. At birth, no one controls the gender, but as they grow and mature, they control their personality and development. Payment should be on personal skills and not gender. As a female STHM student focusing on sport management and a former athlete,
In the meantime that Edwards and other researcher activists were composing in popular sources and freely debating issues related with race and sports, researchers in various disciplines started research that factually reported examples of racial isolation and separation in sports a...
The growing debate about the mascots, logos, and team names used in sports has been an issue since the 1960’s-1970’s. The argument that is at hand is depicting if these symbols are a representation of pride or if they can be classified as racist. There are many supporters to both sides of this debate. Many on one side are arguing that the symbols are clearly racist while others on the opposing side are making claims that the symbols are an honor to whom they are portraying and are negatively connected to racism. There also the individuals who do not identify with either side, obtaining the belief that these symbols are a representation of the organization itself rather that creating a backstory or an image associated to anything other than the organization represented by an image. With many debates and issues regarding the topic happening annually, the question remains, what should be done about the racism issue in the sports industries?
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.
The world has lived through generations of racism and racial profiling. After the days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Civil Rights Movement, the American people thought they had passed the days of hatred and discrimination. Although Americans think that they live in a non-racist society, minorities today still live in the chains of oppression and prejudice through sports, schools, and social media. 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.
Glamour and money are not the only components surrounding sports; many athletes experience what can be considered the dark side of sports. In the article The Meaning of Serena Williams by Claudia Rankine, some not so glamorous aspects of her life are highlighted. One of the most prominent rough parts of her life includes the racism that constantly surrounded her as an athlete. Whether it be the name calling and humiliation, or being paid less compared to a white woman, Serena has endured it all through her career; it is how she handles such cases that promotes her positive character.
Racism occurs every day and everywhere. We cannot get away from it. In sports, Racism is happening more often and becoming a much bigger problem. Most agree that sports are a reflection of society. What this means is that sports often act as a small-scale version of society and thus, racial problems in sports have been, and continue to be, brushed away as nothing unique. It takes outrageous conduct for the reality of racism in sports to come to the forefront. When comparing a minority athlete to a non-minority athlete we can see they both are victims of discriminated because of their race. However, the type of discrimination is very different, and the effects are very different. To a lot of people, the sports world is a place in which none of the normal problems of the “real” world could possibly exist. Although, racism in sports has been an issue throughout the world. It has had an impact on our Athletes of all ages and race. In both their personal life and outside their personal
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.
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,