“To them, it was a sport,” said Suffolk County district attorney Tomas J. Spota, referencing hate crimes committed by a group of teens in Long Island earlier this month. The New York Times reports that one of the teens—a star athlete at his high school—has been accused of stabbing a 37-year-old Hispanic man to death.
Pretty twisted sport, if you ask me.
Earlier today, our awesome neighbor Jess brought freshly baked cinnamon buns to our house. Somehow, while chatting over cups of tea and warm cinnamon buns, we got into a discussion about white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. I know; it’s a pretty disturbing topic for a mid-afternoon tea break.
I was reminded of a series of hate crimes that took place in my home state of Maine. Several years ago, a large Somali in-migration entered Lewiston—a mid-sized town in Maine, which at that time was the whitest state in the nation. A bunch of town residents began freaking out, claiming that the Somalis were ruining the cultural integrity of the community, putting stress on social programs, stealing jobs, all of the usual stupid arguments that white people make to avoid looking into their own racist belief systems. The town mayor wrote a letter to one of the leaders in the local Somali community, kindly asking them to stop moving to Lewiston. (Is it actually possible to “kindly ask” an entire racial group to go elsewhere? That doesn’t seem like a very kind request.)
Anyway, white supremacists and neo-Nazis all around the country got wind of the local struggle going down in Lewiston, and decided to travel to Maine to help push the Somalis out. Then the rest of Maine and New England heard about the neo-Nazi rally going down in Lewiston, and decided to organize a pro-diversity rally on the same day.
What ended up happening was really quite beautiful. The pro-diversity crew outnumbered the neo-Nazis by a long shot. Hundreds of people from near and far came together to welcome and celebrate the Somali community in our state. The neo-Nazi gathering looked pretty pathetic in comparison. They made a really amazing documentary about the struggle, called The Letter.
[Below: The official trailer to The Letter.]
Hate is not a sport. If team sports have taught us anything, it’s that we rely upon community, understanding, trust, and a basic respect for our teammates in order to win. I wish that teenage star athlete from New York could have learned this before he adopted violence as a “sport”. I’ve heard arguments that diversity in both college and pro sports has helped to alleviate some racial tension in this country; these days, we consistently see Black, Latino, White, Asian, and others with diverse racial identities playing side by side on the field. But we still have a long way to go in the struggle to create safe, hate-free spaces.
Yesterday I wrote a post about white privilege—it’s ubiquitous in western society, but often goes unacknowledged.
But some would question that statement in the context of professional sports. Back in 2000, Jon Entine wrote a book called Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why we’re Afraid to Talk About It. At the time of his writing, African-Americans made up 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet comprised 65 percent of NFL athletes and 80 percent of the NBA.
I don’t know the current numbers, but I have no reason to argue with the statement that black athletes outnumber white athletes in pro sports. So why are there such disproportionate numbers of black players in pro sports? Does that mean that race issues have been resolved? Does it mean that there is ‘reverse racism’ in effect?
[Let me stop for a second to explain why I hate the term ‘reverse racism.’ There is no such thing as ‘reverse racism.’ Racism is an entire system of oppression perpetrated by one racial group (the group that holds most systemic power) unto another racial group. You can’t pick out little discrepancies and call it racism; that’s inaccurate. There are such things as racial bias or even white hatred, but there’s no such thing as ‘reverse racism.’]
Entine answered these questions by claiming that our predicament is rooted in biology; as athletes, blacks are naturally superior to whites.
Clearly, this is a very controversial statement. I’m very skeptical of any “biological” argument about racial superiority or inferiority. It is just too reminiscent of eugenics practices in the United States, otherwise known as “the good breeding movement” that began in the late 20th century and continued into the 1970s. This involved forced sterilization of hundreds of black women across the United States, under the racist assumption that their genes were inferior (Sinderbrand). And then there was the time when Samuel Morton “proved” white man’s intellectual superiority in 1839 by measuring the cranial capacity of skulls. But don’t forget the studies of Sarah Bartmann. By measuring the size of Bartmann’s labia, scientists were able to “prove” that black women are more sexually charged (read: promiscuous) than white women (Giddings 416).
Maybe now you understand why I’m skeptical. Too many biological studies of race had an unethical and atrocious history of proving whatever point the white scientist felt like making.
Another NBA blogger noted that “19th century biological ideas of race continue to inform how we think about not just black and white athletes but about black and white people in general: black people are physically gifted, BUT the white people are intelligent.” The old stereotype that black people are more physical (and less intellectual) fits in nicely with Entine's thesis.
So then the question remains—why are there so many more pro black athletes than pro white athletes?
It could have something to do with culture. Maybe more white kids are encouraged to pursue career paths in medicine or law rather than basketball or football. I’ve heard that for many black urban youth, becoming a sports star often seems like the best shot at “making it”—not to mention the fact that basketball could translate into a full athletic scholarship for college. Like I mentioned yesterday, white folks on average have more economic privilege and might not need to focus so much on getting a sports scholarship or even a job in pro sports.
This is just a guess. I don’t know the answer. I’m happy that the MLB and NBA are no longer white organizations. I’m upset that racist stereotypes still live on in the sports world.
Sources:
Giddings, Paula. “The Last Taboo.” In Beverly Guy-Sheftall, ed., Words of Fire. The New Press. New York: 1995.
Sinderbrand, Rebecca. “A Shameful Little Secret.” Newsweek: March 28, 2005
Australian officials recently gave the go-ahead to destroy a controversial grandstand titled, “E.S. ‘Nig**r’ Brown.” ABC News reports that the derogatory name will not be used on the new $2.5 million sports facility to take its place.
The Brisbane Times noted that “Toowoomba Sports Ground Trust chairman John McDonald [said] that while the grandstand bearing Brown’s name was to be demolished...the ‘N word’ would be used on a plaque or statue at the new ground.”
Then Sports Minister Judy Spence said something to the effect of ‘Heck no! There’s not a chance that we’re gonna use a racist term anywhere near this new facility.’ Most others seem to be in agreement.
It amazes me to learn that after nine years of debate, McDonald still thinks that it’s cool to construct a plaque or even a little statue bearing a derogatory “nickname” in memory of a white Australian rugby player named Edward Stanley Brown. (Yes, it took nine years and an appeal to the United Nations before the people in charge of the facility decided to sack the racist title.) [from AAP]
I’ve mentioned before that public facility titles carry both a history and a statement about the culture. It’s not just a silly nickname. It speaks of Australia’s racist history, and public officials’ unwillingness to take accountability for past mistakes. McDonald (and others, I’m sure) don’t want to acknowledge that there is anything problematic about naming a multi-million dollar grandstand after a racist slur.
Thankfully, enough of the people in charge of constructing the new facility have decided against the derogatory title, either through their own good nature or through intense political and legal pressures. Call me a pessimist, but perhaps the latter is more powerful in this case.
However, when politics and the law favor those in power, it might take nine years of fighting before you can get officials to admit to any wrongdoing.
In 2007, almost 2.3 million people saw the United States from behind a set of prison bars.
In the intro to her book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, UCSC professor Angela Davis talks about the racial makeup of prisons (nonwhite inmates account for a disproportionate share of total prisoners), and the racism inherent of the U.S. criminal justice system:
“During my own career...I have seen the population of U.S. prisons increase with such rapidity that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.”
(Sidenote: I actually had the chance to attend one of Davis’ lectures on “Race, Gender, Politics, and Prisons” at the University of Hilo, Hawai’i last spring. She was absolutely amazing! I have to admit, she's one of my heros.)
It’s a very sad day when incarceration serves as a substitute for education. Once behind bars, inmates must deal with more sad truths about the prison industrial complex—including the prevalence of rape in state and federal prisons, the difficulty of maneuvering the legal system, racial discrimination on the streets and in the courts, and the inhumanity of living behind a set of bars.
Prison sports provide a positive outlet for some inmates (according to Newsday, more than half of U.S. inmates play sports), but remain a controversial topic. Prison guards view sports as necessary because it reduces aggressive behavior and improves inmates’ moods. But many dislike the idea of spending tax dollars on recreational activities for convicted criminals. Prison is supposed to be a punishment, right? Where’s the punishment in playing tag football or weightlifting?
But sports really mean a lot to inmates who have little to look forward to on a day-to-day basis. Sports improve physical fitness, teach team building skills, cut down on boredom, and relieve stress.
Life in prison is tough; there’s no question about that. Perhaps sports can bring a glimmer of hope to those who have gotten stuck on the wrong side of the criminal justice system.
* for more info, check out this Newsday series about sports in prison.
My fabulous mom—I call her Barbara—sat behind the steering wheel as we drove to our house in the woods of central Maine. She hit play:
I am SuAnne Big Crow
I am 14 years old
Here on Pine Ridge Reservation
I play for the Lady Thorpes
But that night on the court
I was the Oglala Nation
I prepared for this moment
Since before I was born
By Chief Big Crow of Sans Arc Lakota
I am of his line
But the moment was mine
The night we played in Lead, South Dakota
It was a folk song by John McCutcheon, written about a girl confronting Native bigotry at her basketball game in South Dakota.
I was the first one out the door
The first one on the floor
The Lead fans exploded like a bomb
The fake Indian war whoops
The curses, shouts and hoots
I felt my racing heart grow still and calm
The ball fell from my hands
As I faced the seething stands
I draped my jacket cross my shoulders
I dance the shawl dance
I sang the sacred chants
In their silence I felt ages older
The story unfolds as such: when audience members in the stands began shouting racist remarks at the Oglala high school girls team, SuAnne Big Crow threw her warm-up jacket over her shoulders like a shawl and performed a sacred Oglala dance in the middle of the basketball court. Everything else stopped; the crowd fell silent in awe.
Isn't this beautiful?
Isn't this real?
We've danced this for these countless years
Before you left Europe
Before Wounded Knee
Before the long Trail of Tears
It is not clear whether or not the events in the story actually occurred. But this we know: SuAnne Big Crow was a remarkable human being.
She was a star athlete and student with a vision to empower indigenous communities and fight anti-native racism. One of her dreams was to create a drug and alcohol free youth facility on Pine Ridge reservation. In 1992, when a tragic automobile accident in cut her life short at the age of 17, her community came together to build a youth sports facility in her honor. The SuAnne Big Crow Boys and Girls Club at Pine Ridge currently serves over 900 Oglala youth.
This land is an ideal
But nothing here is real
Until someone ventures an act
For all and for free
We finally see
Whether freedom is fiction or fact
I am SuAnne Big Crow
I am 14 years old
Here on Pine Ridge Reservation
I play for the Lady Thorpes
But that night on the court
I was the Oglala Nation
“Trina, I think you’d like this song.” 
