Race In Sports And Sports

Race is a category of people who are identified through a classification system based on meanings given to physical traits among humans. This classification system is then used by the majority in any area to discriminate and oppress. The physical traits used in this classification system can influence the ways people connect skin color with athletic performance, among other things. This is especially true regarding African Americans. Racial ideology such as this can have a very heavy influence on the way African Americans participate in sports and in which specific sports. The media is a powerful tool which can influence and shape the perception of the public. In which ways has the media had an effect on why this stereotype and ideology remain

This idea is planted in the mind young through the media in which African Americans are still underrepresented, with negative association’s exaggerated and positive associations limited. When African Americans are represented in the media, they are majorly marketed in entertainment and sport roles. Through the politics of exclusion in the media, and the exaggerated representation of African Americans as athletes, racial ideologies continue to prevail and the young African American sees sports as almost a birthright to excel in certain sports. These limited options of positive role models outside the sport and entertainment world exaggerate expectations for African Americans and can lead to troubling results as the improvement of the physicality is sometimes at the expense of progression

Rhoden’s article and book, $40 MILLION SLAVES, he explains through the celebrity of African American athletes, blacks have become disconnected from the American Dream, and see sports as the only avenue where self-respect can be won. LeBron James’ story is well known as it’s displayed across the media daily - a young African American born into poverty to a single mother in, Akron, USA. His exceling of basketball at a young age and continued dominance in the NBA, shows a continued pattern in the media - to show the black body outrivaling in sports, confirming the idea of the American Dream through hard work – only in sports. Stories like James and sports legends like Muhammed Ali, Jesse Owens, Serena Williams, etc, are re-played on sports networks and in books from generation to generation as fuel for the perceived destiny of African