Week 8 Reading Response

Part One

This week we talked about an uncomfortable yet really important topic: racism and how it is perceived in the sports world.

During class we spent a lot of time discussing the overarching themes of the articles and less about the specific rhetorical strategies each writer used to convey their opinion/position on the political issue at hand: racism.

However, we did touch on a few key writing elements in the texts that enhanced — or hindered — the authors’ messages.

For instance, Greg Howard’s “Richard Sherman and the Plight of the Conquering Negro”touched on the reaction and hate Sherman received after making a passionate, yet slightly arrogant comment after making a game-winning play in the national championship. But who wouldn’t be that excited after playing a long hard fought game? I think we all would have said something just as arrogant whether we’d like to believe it or not.

Anyways, back to the text.

Howard elaborated on the comments and tweets Sherman got after his post-game comment— many of them included the N word. Howard chose not to censor the word with characters, which emphasized his message that the negative reaction Sherman got was based purely off of racist attitudes that are still very ingrained in our society; and, especially, in the NFL fan base.

Part Two

Should players make political statements during games?

During class a couple students seemed to have issue with Colin Kaepernick’s protest saying it was ‘disrespectful’.

I wholeheartedly disagree, I think it was the most well thought out protest he could have done. It got national attention; everyone was talking about it even people who don’t like football or organized sports. Even Trump took it upon himself to tweet about it.

Yes, he knelt during the national anthem and yes it was in front of a military demonstration.

But are you doing a protest right if no one gets offended?

I think the underlying issue a lot of people have — other than not agreeing with his political statement about police brutality — may be about whether or not sports should be political.

Sports are political; that is irrefutable. But, should players be allowed to make political statements during games?

In my opinion, athletes have a responsibility to bring attention to social issues. They are role models, have large fan bases, and media attention. They have the best platform to make such statements and spark a discussion. Overall, I don’t think players should hide their political opinions. If they are passionate and don’t harm anyone, then no one should censor them.