Video Link: https://theundefeated.com/features/dear-black-athlete-issues-of-race-sports-birmingham/
DWilliams, in the Undefeated video, demanded that we stop “confusing change with progress”.
Eitzen explained some of the anecdotal evidence that is used to demonstrate racial progress in
sport: the promotion of dominant African American players (e.g., Serena Williams, Deshaun
Watson, or Lebron James), or the racial makeup of the NBA and NFL, which are both often
presented as dominated by black athletes.
However, Eitzen is quick to refute the sense of racial progress in sport, explaining that racial
minorities are actually siloed into specific sports that are widely broadcasted, and in those
sports, the outlook for transitioning from athlete to leader is bleak.
One main assertion of sociologists, such as Eitzen, is that the issues or the inequity we see and
experience in real time snapshots cannot be separated from the processes of society that
created the issues or inequity. What we see in race relations today does not exist only in these
moments, but is the culmination of a process of how racism has been constructed through
symbols and meaning (like anything else in our society).
The most critical takeaways from the readings in this unit are that race categories are socially
constructed, operate as a mechanism for power, and are depicted/operate through sets of
symbols that have meaning attached to them.
Symbols around race and race-based stereotypes are layered into sport – a space that is sold as
one of vast opportunity for racial minorities. Eitzen provides examples of symbols in terms of
flags and race-based mascots, and discusses who decides their meaning. In the Undefeated
video, Chris Archer discusses symbols that contrast with the “black athlete” symbol in terms of
job categories; Archer says that every team has a team doctor, legal staff and an economist,
and that you can be in sport in more ways “than just on the field as entertainment”.
For this essay, consider the following questions when responding to the prompts.
Why and how does racial inequality and racial segregation persist in sport while sport is
presented to us as racially integrated? How do access and treatment discrimination toward
racial minorities in sport compound across their experiences as athletes and as leaders?
You should organize your paper by these prompts:
1. How do symbols and meaning produce and reproduce racism in sport?
Consider how the symbols construct ideas about race, and produce and reproduce
institutionalized racism through examples like mascots or the myth of natural talent
(black bodies as physical entities)
2. Why and how are racial minorities siloed into specific sports and what are the outcomes
of that as athletes and as leaders?
Consider sociocultural influences on sport choice; access treatment
3. How does treatment discrimination affect racial minorities in sport as athletes and as
leaders? Can you think of any examples of treatment discrimination that you have seen in sport
now that you have studied types of discrimination?
Consider tasking and stacking; welcomeness
[On your own, consider if the purpose of sport (inclusion and opportunity) matches how it is
delivered for racial minorities.]
