The Impact of Sports on Race and Gender Equality
By Jared Rosenthal
Race and gender equality are two aspects which affect sports as well as the individual athletes that participate in these leagues.
According to the first video, “Shut Up and Dribble” a common perception that multiple sports figures held was that the best way to stay popular would be to “remain a mystery”. For instance, Micheal Jordan was a fierce competitor that people looked up to, yet he rarely intervened in political discussions which may have aided in his likeability — this also may have helped Jordan in using his platform to promote his Air Jordan brand. Similarly, in terms of promotion, LL Cool J wore Air Jordans in an album cover which went to prove how African Americans and basketball could influence culture off the courts. Likewise, Allen Iverson, a four-time NBA scoring champion, 11-time NBA-All Star, and three-time NBA steals leader not only revolutionized the game of basketball with his impressive performances, but he also revolutionized American culture with his cornrows, flashy clothes, and strong promotion of hip hop. In another manner, due to immense police brutality and national racism, multiple athletes emphasized wanting to be seen as a regular human as opposed to a color. With turmoil springing from Rodney King’s case, an incident where police brutality was seen on camera and a court punishment was not applied to the officers for their unjust treatment, athletes decided to take political stances which were seen as disruptive so teams avoided having them on their rosters. Lastly, athletes were seen as role models, and people including Charles Barkley wanted parents to do their own parenting instead of society placing athletes on a pedestal of perfection.
Similarly, in the second video, “Against the Tide”, a primary source of hostility in sports was the divide between whites and blacks; especially prevalent in college football. During the late 60’s to early 70’s, the University of Southern California consisted of a successful, diverse roster while the University of Alabama faced much success as well, but only had white athletes on the team. In this era, Paul Bryant, Alabama football head coach and six-time champion had a strong friendship with John Mckay, USC’s football coach, a four-time champion who also helped lead USC to eight Rose Bowls. Though Bryant had zero black players, he still wanted to add them to his roster because he valued pure skill. Because of this strong relationship between the two coaches, the two teams were able to play each other in back-to-back years; one game was played in Tuscaloosa and the other in Los Angeles. This game had an intense buildup of fear due to racial violence and racist governmental officials such as Governor George Wallace, who wanted to maintain segregation by stating, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”.
A fascinating aspect to the first meeting between the two teams was that citizens throughout the state of Alabama were supporting USC. This fandom occurred because many people in the state were African American and envisioned themselves reaching that competitive level, breaking the color barrier. Ultimately, USC was able to crush the Crimson Tide, and prove how multiracial football is a winning formula and could unify the nation. By USC being a pioneer of acting with respect towards all races in sports, other teams were able to encounter similar successes in the future when they utilized this same approach.
