...Race, Racism and Sport -- The myth of the superiority of the Black male athlete The prompt to this discussion dictates I articulate why the “common sense” notion that African-Americans dominate sports is false. Excuse me for playing the devil’s advocate, and hopefully I do not lose points for disregarding the instructions, but after reading the chapter I see things differently and an important point needs to be made. If anything, I am inclined to argue Coakley’s hypothesis, along with the other research and history included therein, does more to reinforce the idea that African-Americans dominate sports than it does to discredit the notion that has developed into a stereotype. In my opinion, Coakley’s hypothesis serves to provide sound reasoning and explanation as to how, and why, African-Americans have come to dominate sports in modern America. When I say, “dominate sports” be aware I’m using the phrase quite loosely. I’m referring to the overwhelming majority of African-Americans that make up professional basketball and football teams as well as their collegiate counterparts. In no way am I saying that African-Americans are more talented or perform better statistically; instead, I mean to say that they dominate the populations—there are just way more of them on the field of play. Hold that field of play term in the back of your mind as we move along. Before I go on, let’s check out some numbers courtesy of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the...
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...Racism is an issue that it is evident in our modern society, and its impact has influenced the way people cohabit in it. Racism has been destroyed the relationship that people should have as human being independent of their races, background, religious and social status. Some people have been victims of racism and discrimination, and other people have witnessed it in everyday lives’ situations such as at school, job, television, sport, etc. Moreover, places that agglomerate people with difference races and background are more likely to find higher degree of racism and discrimination, and the example examined here is sport. Racism in sport may be defined as a situation in which elements involved in a game such as players, coaches, referrers...
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...1. American Sport Movies There are few countries in the world in which sports permeate national life to the degree that it does in the United States. Sports are a big part of the fabric of American life. The centrality of sports in American life is amply reflected in the American cinema. For decades movie makers have successfully mined sports to produce some of the most inspiring, poignant, exciting and memorable American movies ever made. The genre of ‘Sport Movies’ established in the Fifties and the Sixties. At the very beginning it was hard to see it as an independent genre because there was a lot of mixture. There have been propaganda movies as well as comedies, dramas, gangster movies or even westerns combined with some sport scenes. So the movie industry defined three categories of sport movies. Category 1: movies in which the main part of the narration is about sport or an athlete Category 2: movies which tell the life story of an athlete Category 3: movies which use sport scenes to describe a special milieu In addition to that there are a lot of movies of another genre which use sport scenes to dramatise the story or to create a good suspense. The first sport movies were all about the so called American Myth of victory and glory. Fair competitions and the better athletes defeating the weaken. The fascination of sport inspiring the people was used to lure the public. Then in the eighties and nineties there have been made a lot of biographical movies...
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...For me, the game of basketball has always been a sanctuary. It's been a place where I've been able to escape and find peace,” said Michael Jordan. This sentiment resonates deeply with many athletes who turn to sports as an escape from the everyday hardships of life. In Richard Wagamese’s novel Indian Horse, the protagonist Saul’s journey mirrors this sentiment. Amidst a plethora of trauma, discrimination, and struggles to forge his identity, Saul discovers hockey as not just a game but a refuge. However, this refuge proves to be unsuccessful due to severe limitations. Saul’s journey demonstrates that sports can provide an immediate escape from reality. But they ultimately fail to offer lasting refuge from trauma, systematic racism in sports, and personal identity struggles....
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...11/21/11 “News and Analysis” Summary Racism is a big factor in today’s sports. They say the only reason why it is a big factor is because the media was the reason why. ESPN and other sports outlets making it a bigger issue than it really is. We have racism in sports today is not because of sports in general, but we have racism in sports now because of the media covering them. In the article it tells us about how the media can say and tell us a lot of misleading things that may not even have to do with racism, and how that we should stop paying attention to each and everything the media are telling us, and start believing in what we think in our own perspective. Further along the article one stated on why most whites play hockey and most blacks play basketball. Are white more skilled at playing hockey? And are blacks more skilled at playing basketball? “Because the kids play the sports that dominate the area in which they grow up in. “I grew up in Milwaukee (which is a very segregated city) and can figure out why the above questions are asked”. Analysis For the analysis, as a sociologist perspective this article can be various concepts of sociology. This article can be seen as culture Stereotypes. Mainly because some may say that black African Americans is not just labeled as a football player, basketball player, or a baseball or many more because they say that black African Americans are just pure athletes. One reason why they might think black African Americans...
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... Racism in Canadian Hockey Neil McGregor - 500 459 843 SOC 507- Race and Ethnicity in Canadian Society Professor Christopher Powell April 13th, 2016 ------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction......................................................................................................3 Evidence of Racism in Hockey Minor Hockey.......................................................................................3 Professional Hockey.............................................................................6 Impacts of Racism in Hockey............................................................................8 Influencing Factors...........................................................................................8 Corrective Action.............................................................................................10 Conclusion........................................................................................................12 ------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION Canada’s favourite past time hockey has and continues to endure racism throughout all levels of the sport. This paper will expose the institutional racism in Canadian hockey associations with an emphasis on black hockey players. Drawing credible news reports and personally experiences, I will provide evidence that institutional racism is deeply rooted within the fabric of the sport, which...
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...Indirect and Direct Racism Racism is a blot on society that has transgressed mankind over hundreds of years. It is conscience of humans that few things are far superior to others. This can be explained in the detail with example of skin color, origin and culture which are the key factors in defragmenting the human society which eventually leads to racism. Cultural difference between various communities was one of the reason for the development of racism. As societies tries to bind itself together it compels people to adapt to different cultures, influencing hatred and eventually given rise to racism. Racism still exists in today’s society in both direct and indirect ways. This can be explained with the recent examples of Asians been targeted in the western world. Asians are attacked because they have different culture and when they settle in western world they bring uneasiness to western lifestyle thus leading to racism. As the author quotes in this article “Under a byline of Lian Ji, the article published Wednesday used broken English and spouted racial stereotypes to bash the school for his rejection.” The author explains that the student mentioned in the article feels discriminated against due to the fact that he was rejected from Preston University. Clearly showing the flow of racism in the atmosphere within the article, impacting people directly. Skin color is another factor that also has influenced racism. Though subconsciously humans have the tendency to relate things...
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...I’ve watched sports for a long time, I always thought that sports were a way to forget about the troubles of daily life for a few hours and get lost in our favorite games. As I grew older I realized that this was not the case, and it has never been. Sports and politics go hand and hand with each other, and after watching your documentary “Not Just a Game,” I can see why. Not a lot of people like politics in sports, but what many don’t realize is that politics actually helps sports bring some very controversial subjects to the frontline. The entire Los Angeles Clippers basketball team protesting their racist owner, women being in the main event of an MMA event, and Michael Sam being the first openly gay player to be drafted by the NFL are great examples. Racism is a topic that has plagued sports for a long time whether people want to admit it or not....
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...I will be presenting a point of view on the topic of how racism is destroying the Australian dream, in a way that uses evidence to support the topic and rhetorical questions. I will argue in favour of the topic by showing how their safety, sport and their opportunity is filled with racism. I want to tell everyone how Racism isn’t killing the Australian dream. The Australian dream was founded on racism. Introduction: Good morning Australia is both a young nation built on immigration and a country boasting the oldest living culture in the world. The Australian dream is magnetic, attracting vastly more people than ever. ‘ A quarter of the population is born overseas and almost half of us have a parent born abroad. The Australian Bureau of Statistics...
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...The main character of the movie Nelson Mandela becomes the President of South Africa after his 27 years of prison life. He realizes that racism is very serious in his country and he starts to solve the problem. At first, no one agree with his idea which is using the “universal language” sport to let the citizens realize that unity is very important in their country. In the movie, Mr. President did a job to solve the racist problem. He use sport as the language to let the citizens realize that unity is needed in their country but not racism. The captain of the rugby team, Francois Pienaar helps Mr. President to unite the country. The rugby player visit the children and they play together. At first, the children only play with the black guy who has the same skin colour with them but at last the children accept the white guys that have different skin colour. Finally, the South Africa team of rugby won the champion and all the citizens celebrate together without racism. He solves the racist problem that overtakes the country for so many years. In a country, racism can be a very serious problem. It’s a shame to let people know that their country having a serious racist problem. Racism will make the country unbalance in many different view. From the view of safety, the country wouldn’t be safe because it may cause war between the citizen of different races or different skin colour. From the view of economy, the subordinate minority are not given the chance of...
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...“Hating people because of their color is wrong and it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It’s just wrong.”. Racism in this country has lately been leading towards politics and sadly the color of people's skin. More NFL players are beginning to stand up for their own beliefs by taking a knee when the National Anthem is played. As this protest was started by Colin Kaepernick, who was the first to kneel. This has lead to more media discussion about racism, all for he didn’t feel as equal to others. Specifically, with Colin Kaepernick’s actions, people began to realize that they felt the same way about racism and equality, which has now turned into a huge discussion across the nation and even in the media's views. Although some...
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...they beat the number one ranked team, Kentucky, who was an all white team. This game was and still is considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history, and one of the most important games as well, as Don Haskins started five black players, and only played the seven black players. The reason this game, as well as the entire season, was so significant was because during this time, racism was still a huge problem in the United States, but especially in the south where Texas Western was located. Don Haskins recruited seven black players to the team, which was by far the most in the NCAA at the time, as only a few teams had just one black player on the team. The team experienced a lot of racism throughout their season, from other players on the floor making racial remarks, referees being bias towards white teams, people in restaurants staring and causing fights, and even their hotel rooms getting trashed when they were on the road. The more success the team had, the more prominent the racism was. Disney used this event to create a sports movie, with a much more important theme and message behind the story. Sport in this film is used to represent unity, and coming together. In the movie, basketball is a chance for the black players to prove all of the racist people wrong, and show they that they can play at a high level. The sport allows them to isolate themselves from all of the negativity, and do something they love for a purpose. The team is lead by head coach Don Haskins...
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...Indian Chant/ Tomahawk Chop Introduction Over the past years, the road to end racial attitudes in America has been a long one raising heated debated and controversies. Racism has been introduced, though not noted keenly in some of the unexpected spheres of life. Sports as a social institution has witnessed open racist claims due to the segregation based on geographical locality, groups, class and also age difference. The use of names, adoption of mascots and use of gestures like the ‘Tomahawk Chop’ influence racism to an extent. Indian Chant/ Tomahawk Chop Current sporting trends in the American renowned sports see most teams deriving their sense of identity from the culture of native Americans, the use of titles to describe their teams has been greatly manifested in America, citing examples from Washington- Redskins, Kansas- Chiefs and Cleveland – Indians to mention a few, also there is the adoption of mascots by teams and chanting to some the native tribes songs, like the use of war facial paints and using Tomahawk Chop chants. This has brought racist concerns to people affecting communities in a multicultural American society. The subjection of the culture of the native Americans to be used in such events is an open and obvious form of racism against the other communities, the teams endorsing the use of the mascots have caused Afro-Americans to be desegregated to some extent having some people not to qualify to playing for their teams on the basis of not being a native...
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...------------------------------------------------- SPO1007: Sport in Context To be submitted by Wednesday 23rd March, 2016. ------------------------------------------------- An annotated bibliography of sports history related to ONE of the issues discussed in the module (class, gender or ‘race’) * 1500 words individual assignment * Summarising and evaluating the quality of 3 relevant articles * Exploring how the past can help explain the present in sport * SUBMIT your assignment ONLINE “An annotated bibliography of sports history related to one of the issues discussed in the module” The issue I have selected is Race. I have chosen three articles the articles I have chosen are as followed. “The Myth of Racial superiority in sports” this article was taken from the week 8b seminar, the second article is “'Race', sport, and British society” this article was retrieved from a literature search on nelson. The final article is “Why Black People Are Good at Sports” this article was from a web search. * A brief description of how you found the article and why you selected it * A summary of the key content of each article, related to your chosen topic – ‘race’, class or gender (main arguments, key concepts used, sporting examples used, etc.) * A quote taken directly from the article highlighting one of the main arguments (correctly referenced) * Show how the historical knowledge from the article can help us understand contemporary sport * An evaluation of the quality...
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...Race and Sports in America By: Patrick Minnick December 12, 2014 “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives”. This quote proved true for no one more than the man who said it, Jackie Robinson. Robinson is seen as a pivotal figure in the fight for racial equality in America. However, he didn’t make his impact through speeches, civil right protests, or violent rebellion. Robinson did it by playing the sport he loved, baseball. Sports have always had an ability to bring people together, but, in the last century especially, sports have given racial minorities something they can’t find elsewhere; a chance to compete on a level playing field with everyone else. Jackie Robinson showed that race is simply a myth, a superficial characteristic that holds no insight to the physical or mental abilities of a person. Sports by themselves show no racism and serve as a constant reminder of this racial myth. Sadly, people are more reluctant to abandon old beliefs; meaning racism still runs deep in the organizations that are built around these sports. This research paper will focus mainly on three subcategories: 1) The history of the relationship between sports and race in America; 2) How sports have benefited or damaged race relations; 3) Why certain sports are more popular among different races. The history of sports in America dates all the way back to the Native Americans who played an early form of lacrosse that was used for recreation and promoting teamwork...
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