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Athletes and activism: a look back at athletes that didn’t “stick to sports”
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Content
1
ATHLETES AND ACTIVISM: A LOOK BACK AT ATHLETES
THAT DIDN’T “STICK TO SPORTS”
Jas Kang
Specialized Journalism
Master of the Arts
University of Southern California
December 2018
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page 1
Table of Contents 2
Dedications 3
Chapter 1 4
Chapter 2 11
Chapter 3 16
Chapter 4 23
Chapter 5 31
Bibliography 38
3
Dedications
To my amazing thesis chair, Jeff Fellenzer, thank you for all your help and words of wisdom
throughout my time in the program.
To my readers, Willa Seidenberg and Ben Carrington, thank you for putting up with me and
making me a better writer.
To all of the people who took the time out to speak with me about the topic, I appreciate all of
your help.
Finally, to my family, and Anakha, thank you so much for your patience with me.
4
ATHLETES AND ACTIVISM
CHAPTER 1
On August 26, 2016, the San Francisco 49ers were getting ready to play the Green Bay Packers
in an NFL pre-season game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Coming off a five and eleven season in 2015, the 49ers were not expected to be a very good
team, naturally taking them out of the national spotlight.
Little did we know at the time, however, that San Francisco would go on to become the most
talked-about team in America. It wasn’t because of results on the field, but because of what one
player was doing before the game even began.
Steve Wyche, a reporter with the NFL Network, was assigned to cover the game.
“I was sent there because Colin Kaepernick was making his preseason debut,” Wyche recalled.
“Everyone thought ‘Kap’ would do great with new coach Chip Kelly.”
The NFL’s tradition of playing the national anthem prior to kickoff was about to become a
lightning rod that brought race, politics and sports to the forefront of American media.
During the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” Wyche noticed that Kaepernick was the only
player in the stadium who wasn’t standing.
“I had alerted people back at my desk [in Los Angeles] like, ‘Hey, this is going on and if this is
some form of protest during the national anthem, it’s going to be good,’” Wyche said. “I mean
we have seen before when people who have taken stances against the flag, it elicits incredible
reaction.”
5
Kaepernick’s decision has done just that. People have spoken out both for and against his protest.
The media covered it religiously. Google “Colin Kaepernick protest” and you’ll see more than
four million links.
“He knew that there was going to be backlash and he knew it was going to be controversial,”
Wyche told me. “He said he was willing to sacrifice. If he lost his endorsements, if he lost his
career as long he stood for something.”
Even if he didn’t fully know it yet, Kaepernick had followed in famous footsteps: He had just
made his mark as a sports activist.
The pairing of sports and activism is nothing new in America. African-American athletes,
especially, have protested, spoken out and demonstrated against social injustice issues for more
than a century.
Those athletes who have been at the forefront of the civil-rights movement were seen as a
nuisance to society.
“They were seen as pariahs,” said Dr. Harry Edwards, the Bay Area based and highly respected
sociologist and activist who has worked as a consultant to professional sports teams such as the
6
San Francisco 49ers and Golden State Warriors. “The general sentiment is that they should shut
up and be grateful.”
History has shown Edwards’ words to be true.
As much as you hear people say they want to keep sports and politics separate, the reality is that
they have always been joined at the hip.
“I think there’s been an issue with black athletes protesting as long as there’s been black
athletes,” said Dave Zirin, sports editor of The Nation. “That has everything to do with the
principles of white supremacy that has been such a part of this country’s origin and foundation.”
Zirin has written about racial inequality in America for decades. After President Donald Trump
explained why he didn’t mention four U.S. soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger, San Antonio
Spurs head Coach Gregg Popovich reached out to Zirin to share his thoughts. In what turned out
to be a stunning rebuke of Trump’s politics.
After slavery was officially abolished in the United States in 1865, the movement for justice for
African Americans was just beginning. It was seen in everyday life, but also highlighted in the
sports world.
The boxing world is the perfect example of where black athletes were treated as unequal to their
white counterparts.
7
African Americans were barred from fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship;
instead, black boxers competed for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship.
Charles Smith was the first recorded World Colored Champion, with records showing that he
held the title in 1876.
Eight other men held the belt before legendary boxer Jack Johnson won it in 1903.
After dominating the black boxing circuit, Johnson wanted a crack at World Heavyweight
Champion Jim Jeffries, who refused to fight him while he held the championship from 1898 to
1904.
Jeffries wound up retiring before facing off against Johnson, giving way to Canadian Tommy
Burns.
Burns took a different approach and agreed to fight Johnson, saying, “Take it from me, if I ever
make a man quit when I get him in the ring, it will be that nigger.” (Moore 2017, 132)
8
Fig. 1 Jack Slack, “The War on Jack Johnson: Boxing’s first black heavyweight champion versus the world.” Vice, No date,
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-war-on-jack-johnson-boxings-first-black-heavyweight-champion-versus-the-world
Burns, it turns out, put his foot in his mouth and he was soundly defeated by Johnson; marking
the first time in history a minority was recognized as boxing’s World Champion…in any weight
class.
Despite the accomplishment, Johnson still wasn’t accepted as equal.
A movement to pressure Jeffries to come out of retirement grew. In 1908, writer Jack London
famously said “Jeffries must emerge from his alfalfa farm and remove that golden smile from
Johnson’s face. Jeff, it’s up to you. The white man must be rescued.” (Moore 2017,128)
It has been more than a hundred years since London wrote his piece, yet members of the media
are still speaking out against athletes who speak out on social justice issues.
9
Los Angeles Times sportswriter Jeff Miller wrote in 2016 that Kaepernick taking a knee
“angered” him and said he wasn’t worth the headache. Fox News host Laura Ingraham, in
February 2018 famously told basketball player LeBron James that he should just “shut up and
dribble” after he talked about politics in an ESPN interview.
Kaepernick and James were following the lead of Johnson, who did not let the critics faze him.
Jeffries finally signed on to fight Johnson in 1909, almost six years after his last professional
fight.
“I decided to meet Johnson to regain the title of champion heavyweight of the world, to win
back the title for the white race,” said Jeffries before what was dubbed (Moore 2017, 129) “The
Fight of the Century,” scheduled to take place in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910.
It did not go as planned. Johnson pummeled Jeffries in front of more than thirty-thousand fans,
retaining his championship after Jeffries’ cornerman threw in the towel in the fourteenth round.
10
Fig. 2 Kareem Copeland, “Jack Johnson descendant seeking posthumous pardon for racially motivated immorality conviction.”
Chicago Tribune, February 9, 2018. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-jack-johnson-posthumous-pardon-20180209-
story.html
The news that Johnson beat Jeffries spread across the country and riots broke out in several
cities.
Fig. 3 Matt Reiman, “When a black fighter won ‘the fight of the century’ race riots erupted across America.” Timeline.com,
March 23, 2017. https://timeline.com/when-a-black-fighter-won-the-fight-of-the-century-race-riots-erupted-across-america-
3730b8bf9c98
11
Fig. 4 Matt Reiman, “When a black fighter won ‘the fight of the century’ race riots erupted across America.” Timeline.com,
March 23, 2017. https://timeline.com/when-a-black-fighter-won-the-fight-of-the-century-race-riots-erupted-across-america-
3730b8bf9c98
Johnson’s win discredited the belief that whites were superior physically.
The focus turned to intelligence.
“Johnson demonstrated further that his race acquired full stature as men,” Alaska-based
sportswriter Rex Beach said. “Whether they will ever breed brains to match his muscles is yet to
be proven.” (L.A. Times, 1990)
The first hurdle had been cleared, but it was just the first step in an on going saga.
CHAPTER 2
After Jack Johnson, great African-American athletes such as Jesse Owens, who won four gold
medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and boxer Joe Louis, who won the heavyweight title in
12
1937, dominated their respective sports but struggled for acceptance, simply based on the color
of their skin.
"A lot of people believe in superiority,” said DeNeen Brown, the Washington Post culture,
literature and arts feature writer said, during an interview. “I believe that race is a social
construct that was created to make people feel superior to others."
There isn’t a specific gene, or a cluster of them, that separates humans when it comes to skin
color (Onwuachi-Willig, 2016.) Race has been used by society in a way that allows us to
categorize people in America.
The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1866, now known as forty-two, in honor of Jackie Robinson’s
jersey number, states that, "All persons within the jurisdiction of the United States shall have the
same right in every state and territory to make and enforce contracts.”
Through the early 1900s, Major League Baseball did everything in its power to skirt the Civil
Rights Act without doing so in writing.
The league hired its first commissioner, Kennesaw Mountain Landis, in 1920. He said that there
was no "rule, formal or informal, or any understanding–unwritten, subterranean, or sub-anything
against the signing of Negro players,” after several Major League teams held tryouts for black
players, who were never signed. (Hylton 1999, 393)
13
Despite Landis’ insistence that there was no rule preventing black players in the MLB, it was
widely known that a gentleman’s agreement was in place between the owners of MLB teams not
to sign African American players. (Library of Congress, n.d.)
This implicit understanding among owners began to unravel in 1945 when the New York
Legislature passed the Ives-Quinn Act, which “created a State Commission Against
Discrimination with the power to eliminate discrimination in employment on the basis of race,
creed, color, or national origin. It applied to all for-profit private businesses with six or more
employees.” (Hylton 1999, 396)
This led to a pivotal period when sports and society came together.
With three major league teams in New York, civil rights activists began to lobby for the
Yankees, Dodgers and Giants to face prosecution for not signing black players.
It was Dodgers president and general manager Branch Rickey who made the historic move on
Oct 3, 1945, by signing Jackie Robinson to be the first-ever African-American player in the
majors.
Though Rickey’s motives for the Robinson signing aren’t clearly known, theories persist that: a)
he signed Robinson to avoid prosecution under the Ives-Quinn Act; b) he believed there could be
a financial gain from signing a black player, or c) he truly thought Robinson was a fantastic
player that could help his team win more games.
14
Rickey was quoted after the signing: “I am completely color blind . . . I know that America . . . is
more interested in the grace of a man's swing . . . and his speed afoot . . . America . . . will
become instantly more interested in those marvelous, beautiful qualities than they are in the
pigmentation of a man's skin, or indeed in the last syllable of his name.” (Library of Congress,
n.d.)
The gifted Robinson, who had been a four-sport letterman at UCLA, won National League
Rookie of the Year in 1947 and was named league MVP in 1949. He finished his career with a
.311 batting average. His .409 on-base percentage is good enough to be ranked 30th all-time, and
he was a six-time All-Star. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Despite his success on the diamond, Robinson is still remembered most for breaking the color
line in baseball, and Rickey’s assertion that he was “completely color blind,” sent a message to
fans to not only accept black players, but believe they should be welcomed as part of a post-
racial society.
"Post Jackie Robinson, sports have become this space of perceived color blindness, perceived
meritocracy, so it authenticates this worldview of look how far we have come as a nation,” said
author David Leonard, who has written several books on the topic of sports, race and society. “’I
root for this player; therefore, issues of racism not only don't matter to me, but to society as a
whole.’ It normalizes and rationalizes racial inequality."
15
According to Philip Mazzocco, author of The Psychology of Racial Colorblindness: A Critical
Review, there are four types of colorblindness:
1. Protectionist (high prejudice, low awareness)
They believe interracial inequality is minimal, or the fault of minority culture. They are likely to
say minorities who complain of mistreatment are “playing the race card.”
2. Egalitarian (low prejudice, low awareness)
They want racial justice and think it has been mostly achieved. As a result, they believe
discussion about racial issues is no longer necessary.
3. Antagonistic (high prejudice, high awareness)
They know there’s a problem with racial justice, but they are fine with it, because they believe it
is their privilege as white people to be favored in society. They disingenuously use claims of
colorblindness to oppose programs like affirmative action, saying that government policies
shouldn’t favor one race.
4. Visionary (low prejudice, high awareness)
They agree there is a racial justice problem and believe the way to overcome it is to stop
emphasizing racial boundaries and differences and to focus primarily on what people have in
common. (Ohio State University, 2017)
At the time Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues, those in support of allowing
“colored” players were categorized as egalitarian.
"At the interface of those two different definitions of where we were, while America was patting
itself on the back for Jackie Robinson, we were saying that 'hey, things are not well, things are
16
not right, and we do not consider exploitation of black athletic talent as progress." Edwards said.
CHAPTER 3
Tensions were high in America in 1968. Much of the African-American community rallied
around a leader who spoke from the heart and inspired people across many cultures: Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
King was a symbol of hope, someone whose passion and intellect came across as threatening to
many in the white establishment.
In April of 1968, King was organizing a national occupation of Washington, D.C., which he
called the “Poor People’s Campaign.” On April 4, the civil rights movement was shaken to its
core when news came out that King was assassinated while at a hotel in Memphis.
After King Jr.’s murder, Edwards began orchestrating demonstrations to take place at track
meets in Northern California. The plan was to hand out buttons with pictures of King Jr., as well
as the logo for the Olympic Project for Human Rights, an organization that Edwards founded to
eliminate racial segregation in the United States and around the world.
Edwards held a press conference in San Francisco just days after King Jr.’s assassination to
clarify his motive.
17
“The thing that brought me to this position, it had nothing to do with Dr. King’s death,” Edwards
said. “It is that people who are decrying the actions against the black community — doctors,
lawyers, college professors — they have not done anything to straighten out the situation.”
Leading up to the Summer Olympics, which began in October of ‘68 in Mexico, Edwards and
the Olympic Project for Human Rights started to gain some traction.
The group wanted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to face a boycott of the games if
it did not meet these four conditions:
1) South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), under white minority rule at the time, be
banned from the Olympics.
2) Muhammad Ali was be restored as heavyweight champion.
3) Avery Brundage, president of the IOC, should step down.
4) More African American assistant coaches should be hired in Olympic sports.
None of the conditions were met, and the boycott fell through, which led to a historic event just a
few days into the Games.
American sprinter Tommie Smith won the gold medal in the two-hundred meters, while his San
Jose State teammate John Carlos, took the bronze. On the podium during the medal ceremony,
they each put Olympic Project for Human Rights badges on their jackets, donned black socks
and raised a black glove, clenched into a fist, during the singing of the U.S. national anthem.
18
Brundage, who didn’t object to Nazi salutes during the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin
was furious, saying the protest was “the nasty demonstration against the American flag by
Negroes.” (Wikipedia, n.d.)
He ordered Smith and Carlos be suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic
Village. When the U.S. Olympic Committee refused, Brundage threatened to expel the entire
track team, which led to Smith and Carlos being sent home.
“The whole lesson of 1968 was that when the empire [sporting establishments] strikes back,
they’re going to kill you,” said Robert Lipsyte, an author and writer for the New York Times,
ESPN and USA Today, in a phone interview in October 2017. Smith and Carlos were stripped of
their medals. Some media outlets referred to them as Nazis, and both men faced death threats for
years.
Legendary TV broadcaster Brent Musburger, who at the time worked for the now-defunct
Chicago American newspaper, and later for CBS and ABC, blasted Smith and Carlos upon their
return home, calling them “black-skinned storm troopers, holding aloft their black-gloved hands
during the National Anthem.” Musburger went on to write:
They sprinkled their symbolism with black track shoes and black scarfs and black power medals.
It's destined to go down as the most unsubtle demonstration in the history of protest.
19
But you've got to give Smith and Carlos credit for one thing. They knew how to deliver whatever
it was they were trying to deliver on international television, thus insuring maximum
embarrassment for the country that is picking up the tab for their room and board here in
Mexico City. One gets a little tired of having the United States run down by athletes who are
enjoying themselves at the expense of their country. (Petchesky, 2012)
Musburger didn’t understand the athletes’ message, just as today the meaning of Kaepernick’s
protest is lost in debates about patriotism and respect for the flag and the Armed Forces.
Kaepernick says he has also faced death threats.
Smith and Carlos “were really just protesting racism and poverty in the country,” said writer
DeNeen Brown. “Just like the NFL players, Smith and Carlos said they weren't protesting the
flag or the military."
“They [Smith and Carlos] had to scramble for employment,” Lipsyte said. “They didn’t get the
endorsements or recognition they deserved as Olympic medalists.”
Another important aspect of the 1968 Games that isn’t talked about as often 50 years later are the
actions of Peter Norman, the Australian athlete who won the silver medal in the 200-meter race
and was on the podium with Smith and Carlos.
Norman was white and also wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge.
20
"Norman took the button and pinned it on and said, ‘I'll wear it,’” Edwards recalled. “Because he
was for human rights, how can you say you're not for human rights? But he had no idea what he
was stepping into."
Instead of returning home a hero for winning a medal for his country, Norman faced a backlash.
He was banned from associating with sports organizations; he qualified for the 1972 Summer
Games in Munich but was not allowed to be on the team."
"My first thought was not about how great is it that a white boy is supporting the Olympic
Project for Human Rights, it was that ‘does this poor sucker understand what he is stepping
into,’” Edwards said. “He absolutely did not. Over the years, he vacillated between a victim of
persecution and a human rights hero, depending on the circumstances and what the interview
was about; he was one or the other. At the end of the day, Peter Norman wasn’t able to see the
steamroller until it had crushed him flat."
The reaction to Norman participating in a movement to help advance civil rights served as a
reminder to white athletes that the establishment will strike back.
Zirin, who is white, has faced a similar reaction to the pieces he has written about equal rights for
African Americans.
21
“People have called me a ‘race trader,’ whatever the hell that means,” Zirin said. “I mean that
sounds like slang from the 1880s or something. Just for writing in support of black athletes.”
In 1969, a year after the Olympic protest, Curt Flood began a crusade that ended his baseball
career. The African American center fielder was dissatisfied with his employer, the St. Louis
Cardinals.
Flood wanted to be paid more, but he had no leverage in contract negotiations because of a
decades-old “reserve clause” that tied a player to the team he originally played for, for the
duration of his career. That meant Flood was at the mercy of the Cardinals.
After Flood voiced his displeasure to team president Gussie Busch, he was traded to the
Philadelphia Phillies, in December 1969. Flood was not interested in playing for the Phillies
because he thought the city was racist, so he decided not to report to the team. Instead, he wrote a
letter to MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, which said in part: “after twelve years in the major
leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I
believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is
inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States. It is my desire to play
baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the
Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before
making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my
feelings in this matter and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season. ” (National
Archives, n.d.)
22
Flood met with the head of the players’ union, Marvin Miller, and told him, “I think the change
in black consciousness in recent years has made me more sensitive to injustice in every area of
my life." (National Archives, n.d.)
Commissioner Kuhn denied Flood’s request to be a free agent, so Flood filed a one-million
lawsuit against Kuhn and Major League Baseball in January 1970 n grounds that his contract
violated antitrust laws.
The case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in March 1972. The court ruled five to three
in favor of Kuhn and the MLB, saying that Flood had to honor his contract. The judges used a
previous court ruling that went in favor of baseball’s exemption from antitrust laws as precedent
for the decision.
By then, the damage to Flood’s career was done. He sat out the entire 1970 season, then played
for the Washington Senators for thirteen games in 1971 before retiring.
The reserve clause was eliminated in 1975 when two white players, Andy Messersmith and Dave
McNally, challenged the ruling and an arbitrator sided with them.
This essentially started the free agency system in baseball, and other pro sports leagues
eventually followed suit.
23
In their time, Curt Flood, Tommie Smith and John Carlos were treated as criminals. Yet, with the
passage of time, all three men are now being celebrated for challenging the status quo.
CHAPTER 4
It has been more than a hundred years since Johnson began fighting on the boxing circuit. Since
then, black athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Smith, Carlos, Flood and Kaepernick have all
protested for the same thing: racial equality.
After seeing unarmed African-American men such as Alton Sterling and Michael Brown killed
by police officers, Kaepernick, whose father is black and mother is white, said, “It would be
selfish on my part to look away.” (ESPN, 2016)
According to Edwards, the killing of African-American men by the police over the last fifty-plus
years is happening at a rate higher than when civilians were lynching black people because of the
color of their skin.
“One-hundred forty-seven black men, women and children being shot down in the streets of this
country, mostly unarmed, each year since 1968,” Edwards said. "That's three times more than the
number of black men, women and children that were lynched in this country from 1882 up until
1968, which was about forty a year."
Kaepernick has even been called out by the President of the United States, when Trump labelled
him and other NFL players who protest during the national anthem “sons of bitches” during a
24
rally in Alabama. Commentators including former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, as well as
other black athletes, such as Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, himself an activist during
and after his career.
"I would not challenge our flag," Brown told TIME's Sean Gregory in September of
2016. "I would not do anything that has to do with respecting the flag or the national
anthem. I don't think it's appropriate."
"There's never been a protest movement where mainstream America has stood up and said
‘Amen,’ we agree with this protest movement,” Edwards said. “It doesn't make a difference if it
was Marcus Garvey or W.E.B. Dubois, or Malcolm X or Martin Luther King, or the Olympic
Project for Humans Rights. Basically, those movements disturbed the status quo and the status
quo is the status quo because that is the way mainstream America has constructed it and wants
it."
Fact: Professional sports team owners are predominantly white and, not surprisingly, have
greater access to opportunities for wealth.
Sports website fivethirtyeight.com published a story by Mona Chalabi (2014) breaking down
data on the racial background of players and team employees in the NBA, MLB and NFL that
was collected by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the Devos Sport Business
Management Graduate Program in the University of Central Florida’s College of Business
Administration.
25
The numbers show that there are only seven minority owners from the 92 teams in all of the
leagues combined. White men are the dominant ownership demographic, while African-
26
American players dominate on the playing fields. No wonder there is a disconnect between
certain owners and the message the players are trying to spread.
Bob McNair, owner of the NFL’s Houston Texans, exemplified the exact thinking that
Kaepernick, Smith and Carlos were protesting at an October, 2017 meeting between the league
and its players.
“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair said during the meeting. It was a tone-
deaf statement that some compared to the mindset of a slave owner.
"Sometimes the NFL and other sports leagues replicate how slavery was constructed in this
country,” said writer DeNeen Brown. “They can tell workers how to live, what to say and what
not to say."
The NFL has tried to improve its image by introducing The Rooney Rule, which mandates that
teams with a head coach or general manager vacancy interview at least one minority candidate
before making a final decision.
Since the rule was implemented in 2003, the number of minority head coaches and coordinators
in the league has gone up by 20% (Fox, 2015)
Minority head coaches are subject to criticism that their white counterparts do not always
experience.
27
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin was subject to racist remarks after he made the
decision to keep his team in the tunnel during the national anthem before a game in Chicago.
Paul Smith, a fire chief for the Washington County, Pennsylvania, volunteer station referred to
Tomlin as a “no good nigger” in a Facebook post.
When a white coach makes a bad decision, fans will never bring up their race. This is another
example of minorities being judged differently than their white counterparts.
It is this sentiment that has caused the rise of the athlete-activist, and not just in the NFL. The
NBA, WNBA and Major League Baseball have all had players speak out or protest around social
justice issues.
But it seems only African American athletes have faced repercussions for speaking out about
racism?
In 2013, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper was caught on camera making a racist
remark.
Cooper, who is white, said he would “jump that fence and fight any nigger here,” when security
guards tried to keep him out of a Kenny Chesney concert.
28
Although Cooper apologized and was fined an undisclosed amount by the team, the Eagles
rewarded him with a $22.5 million contract extension the following year.
In 1999, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was asked about his experiences navigating the city
when he played in New York, and if he would ever consider joining the Yankees or Mets.
“I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city. Imagine having to take the seven
Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair,
next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth
time, right next to some twnety-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing... The biggest thing
I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times
Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians
and Russi and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this
country?” (Pearlman, 1999)
MLB suspended Rocker for fourteen games, but he still played another six seasons after making
the remarks.
Yet, Kaepernick can’t get a job as a quarterback in the NFL, despite throwing for 16 touchdowns
to only four interceptions in 2016. Those are better numbers than more than half of the
quarterbacks that played in the league last year.
29
“NFL owners readily hire guys who have been convicted of domestic abuse, guys who have been
found guilty of DUIs, DUI manslaughter, guys who have cheated the game by taking PED’s,”
said John Feinstein, of the Washington Post. “Kaepernick was within the constitutional rights
and within [his rights according] to the CBA between the NFL and the NFLPA…peaceful
protest. And all of a sudden there are people trying to make him out to be the devil.”
This isn’t about skill or wins and losses: It’s about disrupting the establishment.
With Caucasians mostly holding the key positions of power within sports, business and politics,
sports team owners, high ranking government officials and business executives, the term “white
privilege” has become main stream in recent years.
The term is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as “the fact of people with white skin having
advantages in society that other people do not have.”
An example of this came during the 2015 NFL season.
The league’s “golden boy,” New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, kept the red “Make
America Great Again” hat that was synonymous with Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign in
his locker, in plain sight for everyone to see.
Trump had made racist, xenophobic and misogynistic remarks throughout his campaign, yet
members of the media didn’t attack Brady for having the baseball cap.
30
"It shouldn't surprise us that Tom Brady can put a Make America Great Again hat in his locker
and there isn't a ‘shut-up-and-throw-the-football’ narrative,” said David Leonard, a professor at
Western Washington University and author of several books on sports and race. “Because not
only is the response reflective of the privileges of whiteness, but it is also reflective that certain
kinds of politics are OK."
Off the field, there are plenty of examples of inequality in everyday life.
Black high school students are six times more likely to attend a high-poverty school than their
white counterparts, while white students are more than three times more likely to attend a lower
poverty school than African Americans. (Harriot, 2017)
A study done in Pennsylvania by researcher David Mosenkis showed that schools with more
black students received less money from the state, regardless of the median income in the
neighborhood. (White, 2015)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for African Americans was
nearly double that of whites (8.1% for blacks, 4.3% for whites).
The narrative doesn’t change when it comes to being convicted of a crime you didn’t even
commit.
31
A study done by the National Registry for Exonerations last year found that forty-seven percent
of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the Registry (as of October 2016), and the great majority of
more than 1,800 additional innocent defendants, “were framed and convicted of crimes in fifteen
large-scale police scandals and later cleared in ‘group exonerations.’” (Lopez and Zarracina,
2017)
Leonard believes these findings are indicative of how sports and society mirror each other.
"What we have seen that is illustrative, whether it be white athletes who simply put their hand on
their shoulder of protesting black athletes, or individuals like Steve Kerr or [Gregg] Popovich,
who have been outspoken about politics from Black Lives Matter to the current president, not
only have they not been subjected to the same levels or scrutiny and backlash, they have been
celebrated. That mirrors what we have seen in the last three weeks out of Parkland,” Leonard
said, just weeks after 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at high school in Parkland,
Florida.
"Just as white student organizers from suburban Florida are heard and praised and given space
for their anger and their demands, white athletes and those in sports are given that same space,”
said Leonard.
CHAPTER 5
The divide between detractors and supporters of Kaepernick shows itself in the most obvious
way: along racial lines.
32
A recent study by researchers at the University of Texas illustrates the divide.
“What we found was fascinating. We found that every single black respondent disagreed that
either the NFL, or team owners should punish players who are protesting. We saw this real
strong demarcation with regards to black respondents in this study and then non-black
respondents,” said Dr. Alex Piquero, who helped conduct the research. “The bottom line is that
black respondents overwhelmingly supported all three forms of protesting compared to non-
black respondents.”
The study also found that black respondents were more likely than non-black respondents to
agree with all three forms of the current NFL demonstrations by players (sitting, kneeling,
raising a fist) since Kaepernick began protesting during the playing of the national anthem.
"It wasn't so much that Kaepernick doesn't have the right to do what he does,” said Frank
Deasey, who wrote an Op-Ed on the website Philly.com condemning Kapernick’s protest. “I just
thought it was misguided and there was a disconnect for me as to what his cause was, and why
he thought kneeling for the national anthem would put his cause in the public eye."
Deasey believes Kaepernick is disrespecting the military with his actions, yet if you ask
members of the Armed Forces, not all of them feel that way.
On Twitter, Brennan Gilmore posted this photo of his grandfather, who is a veteran, kneeling in
support of Kaepernick’s right to protest. (Gilmore, 2017)
33
If you search #VeteransforKaepernick on social media, you will see a number of military
members saying they aren’t offended by the protest. Former Marine Heather Damer also voiced
her support for the quarterback.
Still, the NFL doesn’t agree with its players exercising their first amendment right by kneeling
during the anthem. On May 23, 2018, the league implemented changes to its anthem policy.
Some of the new rules under the policy are listed in the picture below: (Schefter, 2018)
34
The NFL, like the IOC before it, has missed the mark. The players who are choosing to protest
during the anthem have repeatedly said their actions aren’t directed towards the flag or military,
but rather towards social injustice. The league’s actions show once again they the powers that be
— team owners and management in the NFL — do not understand the message. The NFL
Players Assn. (NFLPA) has issued a statement saying it will appeal the ruling, meaning this story
won’t be going away from quite some time.
When critics of Kaepernick say they don’t want to mix politics and sports, what they fail to
realize is that sports and the Armed Forces are joined at the hip as evidenced by military planes
that do flyovers before NFL games.
35
What people who say they don’t want to mix politics and sports fail to realize is that the sports
world has become increasingly tied to the military, financially and culturally, especially since the
9/11 terrorist attacks and ongoing military engagements being fought in the Middle East and
Afghanistan.
Military plane flyovers before NFL games have become standard. The United States Department
of Defense paid the National Football League $5.4 million between 2011 and 2014, and the
National Guard paid $6.7 million between 2013 and 2015, to stage on-field patriotic ceremonies
as part of a military-recruitment campaign. (Scott, 2016)
The tie between politics and sports can also be seen when media members share their opinions
on topics not directly related to their job.
ESPN’s Jemele Hill was suspended for calling President Trump a “white supremacist,” while on
the opposite end of the spectrum, Fox News host Laura Ingraham has lost significant program
sponsors for famously criticizing NBA superstar LeBron James in February 2018.
The divide between black and white in America is deep, but the fight for equality will remain
key to combating social injustice, especially in professional sports.
"What each of these protests is doing, is they're refusing to be those symbols of post-racial
America. They're saying race matters, that their experiences as elite athletes, even as
millionaires, is still shaped by the persistent realities of racism...and that's a threat. Because the
appeal of sports is wrapped up in those colorblind appeals,” Leonard said. "That's why these
36
protests are so important, because they're shining a spotlight on those persistent color lines and
persistent racism."
The movement for racial equality in this country has come a long way, especially in regard to the
sporting world. Athletes at the forefront of speaking out against inequality, such as Jack Johnson,
Muhammad Ali and Curt Flood, didn’t have the platforms that are available today. Social media
is the now the preferred method. Twitter, Instagram and The Player’s Tribune allow professional
athletes to express their views and opinions without going to a reporter or media outlet.
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, African American athletes who were at the top of their profession
enjoyed the riches that come with endorsements, while largely steering clear of the topic of
politics and social injustice.
Superstars such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods became spokesmen for prominent
companies, such as Nike, Gatorade and Buick. Jordan and Woods never commented publicly
about racial inequality.
Urban legend has it that when Jordan was asked to endorse Democratic candidate Harvey Gantt
in the 1990 North Carolina Senate race against incumbent Jesse Helms, a white racist politician,
Jordan responded by saying, “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
But now, athletes are at the forefront of the movement for equality.
37
“If LeBron James speaks up, if Steph Curry speaks up, if Colin Kaepernick speaks up, if
[Philadelphia Eagles defensive end] Michael Bennett speaks up, people in the community listen,”
Edwards said. “The people walking in the footsteps of the last civil-rights leader to get a Nobel
Prize, Dr. King, you better look for someone in gym shoes or football cleats.”
History remembers Jack Johnson, Jackie Robinson, Tommie Smith and John Carlos as pioneers
for speaking out against racial inequality.
If progress is made in America in regard to the issues of police brutality and racial inequality, it’s
not too far-fetched to believe that decades from now, Kaepernick will be remembered in the
same way for raising awareness to the issues and sacrificing millions of dollars for it.
38
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Abstract (if available)
Abstract
On August 26, 2016, the San Francisco 49ers were getting ready to play the Green Bay Packers in an NFL pre-season game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Coming off a five and eleven season in 2015, the 49ers were not expected to be a very good team, naturally taking them out of the national spotlight. Little did we know at the time, however, that San Francisco would go on to become the most talked-about team in America. It wasn’t because of results on the field, but because of what one player was doing before the game even began.
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The Awareness Podcast: a look into how sports can negatively affect a student-athlete's mental health
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Athletes and activism: a look back at athletes that didn’t “stick to sports”
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