Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, has been caught in the act of classic racism. His personal assistant/girlfriend recorded him in his own home during a fight they were having. Sterling made the remark that she cannot bring a black person to one of his basketball games, even though she herself is African-Mexican American. Racism still exists today and will continue to exist if people like Mr. Sterling do not get the message that it is erroneous to think of another man or woman as a lesser human being because of the color of their skin. Donald says that, “People feel certain things. Hispanics feel certain things towards blacks. Blacks feel certain things towards other groups. It’s been that way historically, and it will always be that way” (TMZ Sports). In Toni Morrison’s novel, The Bluest Eye, she writes about the way that the black community felt about the white people in Lorain, Ohio. Racism itself has its own horrible effects, but when people of the same skin color begin to turn their backs on each other and discriminate towards their own people, it is worse than the typical racism between blacks and whites. However, when parents resent their own children because of the racial genes that they have passed on, the effects are far more destructive than just the oppression from whites. Aunt Jimmy was the adoptive mother of Cholly Breedlove. His birth mother, Jimmy’s niece, thought that she could simply throw away baby Cholly. When Jimmy saw this, she went outside and picked up newborn Cholly out of the garbage heap and saved his life. She was always blatantly honest with Cholly, and she told him the truth when he questioned the truth about his real mother and father. “He wasn’t nowhere around when you was born. Your mam... ... middle of paper ... ...decreased over the years. It may be more subtle and more occurring in private settings, like Mr. Sterling’s home, but it is still present today. The thing is that black people will fight racism when it is coming from whites, but on the other hand when it comes from lighter skin tones of the black race, they will sit watching it torture them from the inside-out. Claudia, Frieda, and Cholly were given not perfect, but semi-normal childhoods where they could grow up and live an ordinary life. Sadly, Junior and Pecola mentally suffered from their lack of whiteness and were punished by their unloving and unforgiving mothers. Works Cited Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York, NY: Vintage International, 2007. PDF. TMZ Sports. "Clippers Owner Donald Sterling to Girlfriend: Don't Bring Black People to My Games (Audio)." YouTube. TMZ, 25 Apr. 2014. Web. 6 May 2014.
Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant. Whites and blacks have co-existed for many hundreds of years, but as Tyson points ...
It was not uncommon for African Americans to have a realistic view on the world during the beginning of the 1900s. Segregation played a major role in shaping the century. Many just accepted things the way they were and saw no future change. During the early and mid-twentieth century, African Americans had freedom within reach, but were held back by constant discrimination. Many white Americans believed that African Americans should not have the same rights as them, even after slavery was abolished and African Americans became “free.” “Most colored Americans still are not only outside the mainstream of our society but see no hope of entering it” (Weaver 1551). The Younger seemed very realistic at times because they were one of many African American families struggling to live happily in a time when discrimination was still common. There seemed to be no hop...
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...
Russell constantly broke down barriers of racism and hatred during his playing and coaching career from 1956 to 1988. And while his only concern was winning and often kept his mouth shut when he felt he was being oppressed in any way, there were times where he spoke out. There was an instance in 1958, a few years after Russell entered the league where they went to a very segregated Charlotte, North Carolina. When Russell was informed that he and the only other black player on the team would be staying a different hotel from the rest of the team, he couldn’t help himself and had to stand up and say something. After his coach and one of his now best friends Red Auerbach explained that there was nothing he could do, Russell stated; “That’s bullshit Red. You booked this game. You booked this place for us to stay. You know how these people are. So what you did was put us in harms way.” (Page 84, paragraph 2)
In society there are always people who act like they are the great white father. When someone is called out for being a great white father, it is used to describe someone who abuses their high position to control the people that work for them. Someone who acts like that in today’s society is former NBA Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Sterling is a prime example of what a modern day Brother Jack or Mr. Norton is like. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, white dominance is further portrayed by Brother Jack who controls the brotherhood and is using it to achieve his own selfish goal, but pretends to be helping the black people gain equality on the outside. In both the book and today’s society, there are people
At Aunt Jimmy’s funeral, Cholly is placed into a traumatic world of racism when two white hunters interrupt him having clumsy sexual intercourse with a young girl, Darlene. He immediately transfers his angry energy to Darlene because he realizes that hating two white men would not be the smartest thing to do in a segregated racist world. “Never did he once consider directing his hatred toward the hunters. Such an emotion would have destroyed him…--that hating them would have consumed him, burned him up like a piece of soft coal, leaving only flakes of as and a question mark of smoke” (119). The white men are out of his reach, and Cholly grows to hate and kill white men. His masculinity was revoked when those two men forced him to continue having sex while they hilariously watched.
It’s not as apparent as it was in the twentieth century, but it’s still surfaced. For example, in the journal The Persistent Problem of Colorism: Skin Tone, Status, and Inequality by Margaret Hunter, she really analyzed what colorism means in difference ethnicities. With Africans Americans Hunter says “lighter-skinned people of color enjoy substantial privileges that are still unattainable to their darker-skinned brothers and sisters. In fact, light-skinned people earn more money, complete more years of schooling, live in better neighborhoods, and marry higher-status people than darker-skinned people of the same race or ethnicity (Hunter 237). Hunter goes on to explain more in depth about how colorism works and what it is as well as the stereotypes that go with it. For example many people think that colorism is only a ‘black or Latino problem’ when it all started with whites and people with similar color (Hunter 238). As an African American myself and being a part of the “darker skinned” category I have always had struggles since I was a young age. I have always noticed other girls were like me, but of a lighter tone, but it’s never changed the way I think about them or was never really apparent when I was young. Things started to change when was in middle and high school. I noticed a difference in the way males looked at African American women of darker tone. There was already an issue with
Another reason why racism has changed since the 1900’s is from the movie “Ernest Green” (which took place in the 1960’s) from Little Rock Nine, nine black students in Little Rock, Alabama were allowed to attend white schools. These students were physically abused and emotionally attacked. This shows that racism has changed (at least enough to let African Americans go to white schools), even though African Americans were
Cholly is introduced in the first chapter. He is the father of Pecola. Because of his actions, the whole family has been put out of their home. It was a miserable apartment, as ugly in appearance as the family. Except for Cholly. In his youth he had been big strong long limbed and full of his own fire. Now his behavior was his ugliness. Years of despair, dissipation and...
The book “why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria”, written by Beverly Daniels Tatum, Ph.D., Adresses the situation of racism and how it effects everyone blacks and whites. This Book was intended to inform adults. Adults do not tend to educate their children of the facts of racism and the seriousness of it. Sometimes adults are scared they might create a problem rather then to fix it. Beverly wrote this book to educate educators that way they can better teach or train. In certain situations kids don't understand or know how to react because they have not been told the truth on what was happening. The impact of racism begins early. She uses her own circumstances to connect with her audience using ways that she had to deal with certain racial
Jordan attends an elite private school and an exclusive summer camp. So as much as I want to believe that our upper-middle-class status will protect my son from many of society’s social ills, it could not provide him the white privilege he seeks.” (Canedy 887 )Even though Canedy sent her child to a private school and lived in a big house, she believes that the racism wouldn’t affect him. similar to canedy, Chung worries about racism affecting her children Chung wanted to keep people with racist comments away from her kids. “I consider my children, who probably aren’t tracking this conversation — not just because they don’t watch the television show in question, but because they are still young and, for all our intra-family conversations about racism, they do not yet expect to encounter it in their everyday lives. I generally try to push back when someone says something offensive in their earshot, especially when it’s something I think they might understand.” (Chung) Canedy’s son being afraid of accepting his race is a good example of the problems racism causes the color people to want to be “white” because they have many opportunities that color people don’t if we go back to segregation the whites were able to go to good school and have nice house while “color” wasn’t able to, Many “color
Even though many organizations claim to be about equality and respect for their players and even their spectators—of color. It becomes evident that respect and equality is not the priority of the organization, which are headed by majority White males. For example, in 2014, the Atlanta Hawks, a sport organization with a roster majority of young Black men and its fans being nearly 70 percent Black came under criticism and investigation for racist comments made via email and phone conference. The racist comments that were made were by former Hawks owner, Bruce Levenson, and Hawks GM, Danny Ferry; Both White men. Both Levenson and Ferry were involved in two race controversies. Former Atlanta Hawks’ owner Bruce Levenson sent out an email to other Hawks CEOs stating that the audience and it entertainment (the team, cheerleaders, halftime talent, music selection, etc.) are all Black. Levenson continued to say in his email that because the audience and entertainment were majority Black, it was scaring aware White fans and investors from coming to the games (Joesph, 2014, USA Today. On the other hand, Hawks’ GM Danny Ferry was recorded during a conference call making defamatory remakes about free agent, at the time, Luol Deng who the Hawks were trying to acquire. During the call, Ferry professes that “ ‘[Deng] has a little African in him’ ”(ESPN.com). In the
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...
One organization where inequality among racial groups is established is in the American professional sports system; where only those who demonstrate excellence in the sport flourish. Buchanan interprets statistics reported by columnist Walter Williams to conclude that black male athletes dominate majority of the popular sports such as the NFL and the NBA (par. 5). Furthermore, Buchanan reveals that no one complains when Hispanics and Asians who make up a good percentage of the population are not visible nor pursued after in this organization (par. 2).
Especially basketball. The thought of basketball could make most people think ‘Every basketball player is black.” Either that or, “The best types of basketball players are black.” But this isn’t exactly true. Out of the eighteen basketball players on the Denver Nuggets, seven of the players are white. This matters because those seven guys are amazing basketball players. In order to keep playing for the Denver Nuggets, these guys have to be the best of the best, which they are. Just like the eleven black players on the team. However,the Denver Nuggets are only one of the thirty NBA teams out there, so imagine all of the people on those teams who are not black. We’re not just talking about white and black people though. There are many different people out of many different races who play basketball. Asians, Mexicans, Russians and all of the other races can play basketball as well. Some might be better than others. Don’t just think about black people when it comes to basketball. Keep in mind, basketball isn’t the only sport where people can be