America in a cycle...of racism?

In my American Studies class today in school, we talked about the use of black slaves on the labeling of tobacco products, perhaps as a means to sell it to the English market. But the use of black images to reinforce white privilege was not just a product of the 1600s.

During Michael Jordan’s reign as king of the NBA in the 1990s, Nike and other sponsors used visual representations of his black muscle to make millions. The way Jordan has his defined arms stretched out resembles the Vesuvian Man drawing by Leonardo da Vinci. The symmetry shown by Jordan connects to da Vinci’s perfectly proportioned human specimen. Although there is no denying that Jordan is the ideal athlete, is there a subtext to this ad that is unsettling?

Historically, the black slaves who were in peak physical shape were valued highest at slave auctions. Jordan’s image, at least at some level, suggests that America might not have progressed as much as we think it has. Just as blacks were objectified on tobacco packaging by showing that slaves were the fuel that kept the settlers in business, corporations such as Nike were using black muscle like Jordan’s to fuel their profits as well. Think about it: how often do you see black men portrayed as intellectuals in modern advertising?

Over the past few weeks, a couple of appallingly racist ads were released and quickly dropped. A Mountain Dew commercial featured a badly injured white woman and a police lineup featuring five black men and a goat. When I saw the article, I did a double take, unwillingly to believe that a major company like PepsiCo would release an ad like this:

As if that weren’t bad enough, a Uni-Ball ad showed an extremely muscular black man in a jail cell reading a letter from one of his “homies.” Here is a snippet of the letter:

What up, homie. It’s wack that 5-0 bust you shifting bricks of da funky buddha. . . .  But word up, me and my homie T-Bone, we got a hood snitch up in the pen. We gon’ cut you loose like a noose, my dukes. And you be chillin’ in the crib knocking boots with some hoodrats. Gotta bounce, dawg.

In addition to exploiting the mass incarceration of black men in America, this ad and letter portrays a stereotype about blacks that they are lawbreakers and cannot speak. You don’t usually hear folks in Winnetka calling someone a “hood snitch” or even uttering the words “da funky buddha.” However, the management of Uni-Ball felt it fitting in the context of their commercial, degrading blacks and making them seem inferior to articulate white America.

Why do you think black muscle sells in America?

Latinos fill the role of blacks?

Yesterday night, I caught a 10:10 showing of The Great Gatsby movie. I thought it was a solid film, not excellent. One component of the movie that stuck out to me was the contrast between the rich white class and the poor blacks. It definitely sought out to explicitly show the disparity between whites and blacks in the 1920s America.

Tonight, on Mother's Day, I had dinner at my country club, the Glen View Club. I could not help but notice the overwhelming amount of employees who were Latinos. It made me think about the increasing amount of Mexicans and hispanics immigrating (legally or illegally) to America.

Just as blacks came to America during the ages of Slavery, granted unwillingly, this generation of working class Americans seems to be composed largely of Latinos. An article from the Center for American Progress shows how "only about one in six employed Latinos above the age of 25 holds a college degree, which is less than half the portion of employed whites."  Latinos seem to be stuck in a position inferior to whites as shown by the lack of higher education. This is similar to blacks in the 1920s, many of whom served for the rich white like in The Great Gatsby.

This ties back to implicit racism that might still exist in America. I think a slave owner-slave dynamic between whites and blacks exists in professional sports such as the NBA, which I wrote a large paper on in my American Studies class in high school. There could also be this dynamic with whites and latinos in country clubs and other situations where white America enjoys the service of working class America.

Why does "White America" stay exclusive and continue to suppress minorities? What does it say about America?

An evolution in sports, but not in religion

As most have heard, earlier this week Jason Collins, NBA player for the Washington Wizards, openly came out as gay. He is the first player to come out in the "Big 4" sports in America (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), making it a monumental step forward for gay rights and acceptance.  Sports are generally considered masculine, and a stereotype of gay people is that they are fluffy and not tough. So, with Jason Collins coming out as gay, this can hopefully help change that stereotype.

However, gay rights are not accepted in many churches, making the issue more complex. An article from USA Today talks about how LeRoy Butler of the Green Bay Packers gave support to Collins through a tweet, and in turn a Wisconsin church revoked Butler's event he was set to speak at.

The tweet from Butler was "Congrats to Jason Collins," a nice nod to a player who took a risk for a greater cause. The Wisconsin church, which remains unnamed, immediately told Butler if he did not apologize to God and take back his congratulation, he would have to pay a $8500 fine and his event would be cancelled. Butler said no.

I am a Christian myself, but the response of this church is ridiculous in my opinion. I like to think of myself, as well as other Christians, as being open and loving people. I have been taught that everyone is loved by God, and the response of this church is out of line in my humbled opinion.

Gay rights is the next big social movement in America, and hiccups like this show that not everyone is in favor of the movement. Jason Collins is a brave man, coming out in the testosterone heavy world of sports, and LeRoy Butler did the right thing too by not taking back his comment. Religion needs to evolve, and discriminating against gays is not a step in the right direction.
 

The Right Means for Social Mobility?

Differences can be noted when discussing the desires and motives of black and white families in America. In my American Studies class last week, my teacher Mr. Bolos brought up provocative statistics from an NPR story by Frank Deford titled, "The Pitch for More No. 42s". He goes on to explain how while 56 percent of college football players and 64 percent of college basketball players who are from the "Big 6" power conferences (Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC, Pac-12, and Big East) are black, only 2.8 percent of college student bodies are composed of male African-Americans. 2.8 Percent.

Deford also talks about how only 7 percent of coaches and athletic directors at Division I schools are black. This point ties into the research paper I am writing at school about racial disparity in the NBA, but also relates to the idea of social mobility for blacks in America.

Deford sees blacks coming from "poorer neighborhoods" relative to whites living in the suburbs playing college athletics as a means of social mobility. Not just Deford share this view, however. Joseph Graves, author of The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America, corroborates Deford's ideas of black athletes and social mobility in his book: "Sports had already become an acceptable avenue for the advancement of African-American individuals, in part due to the racist ideology that portrayed blacks as innately superior in some forms of athletic performance, such as running and jumping” (Graves Jr., 151). Graves idea of blacks "portrayed...as innately superior in some forms of athletic performance" is especially interesting to me. Could this racial stereotype be why whites feel out of place playing these black-dominated sports? Could it be why blacks strive for athletic success over academic success?

The research Deford presented in his story seems to think these questions have been answered in the numbers already, and I seem to agree.

Slave Owner - Slave Dynamics on Today's Basketball Court?

A recent development with Mike Rice, now former head coach of the Rutgers men’s basketball team, shows footage of Rice beating his players at practices. Here is a clip:

I was shocked when I heard news of a Division I basketball coach (a school moving to the Big Ten next year) beating his players, but knew immediately how relatable it is to my studies in school at this time. I am researching around the question: Why are there more black players and fewer black executives, or positions of importance, in the NBA?

My studies have been anchored behind the book "Forty Million Dollar Slaves" by Bill Rhoden, a black sports columnist for the New York Times (Click here to read further about Rhoden's book). The book talks about blacks struggles in sports throughout history and their failure to collectively cash in on positions of authority.

Rhoden talks about Muhammad Ali and his refusal to join the U.S. Army, risking everything: "When Ali was stripped of his title, it was as if he were being whipped by the overseer" (Rhoden 18). While Ali being stripped of his heavyweight does not relate directly to the players of the Rutgers basketball team, it has relevance. On a basketball court dominated by blacks, these players were being stripped of their dignity by Coach Rice with his actions. Mike Rice is representing the "overseer," physically throwing basketballs and abusing his players.

Rice's actions against his players were completely out of line, and the university did well by firing him. This reflects negatively on white coaches, but especially on the progression of integration in the sports world. If Mike Rice, a white coach, is beating his (predominantly black) players like this in 2013, how far have we really come regarding racial issues and sports in America? An interesting question to consider. Feel free to respond in the comment section below.

March Madness: Who's going to win it all? Oh wait, no one knows.

Mid-March marks one of the most exciting sporting events in the year: the Men's NCAA Basketball Tournament, consisting of a field of college basketball's 68 best teams. Actually, it might not be the sport's 68 best teams, as smaller conferences get one automatic bid which is awarded to the conference tournament champion. However, that just adds to the appeal of the event, with upsets galore.

With the games beginning this Thursday, it made me think just why March Madness is so compelling to America, as well as myself. After reading an article about the tournament by Eddie Pells of the Associated Press, it made me think about the tournament on a larger level of importance. Professor Michael Magazine of the University of Cincinnati sheds some light on why the tournament is so much fun: "'The life lesson is that we make a lot of decisions that are the right decisions, but the outcomes don't always come out the way we planned.'"

What I take from this is that America loves to "make a lot of decisions," and the unpredictability of those decisions adds suspense and entertainment to the games that follow. Magazine's ideas also made me think about how American's like to have the control of making their own decisions, even if the outcomes "don't always come out the way we planned."

The tournament is just a microcosm of the many choices we have to make every day, some decisions more important (who you pick as your champion), and some more obsolete (picking a #1 seed to beat a #16 seed, where a #16 seed has never won a game in tournament history). One can look at the many decisions in this existentialist way, but for the average fan it is just a time of the year to fill out brackets, making you personally invested in every game played. Because as my classmate Jeremy says in his blog post, Americans love to win. We even claim to have never lost a war, when this is probably a false statement. But it is fine that Americans have the drive to win, because no one complains about someone motivated to be the best, even if on the global scale.

America and Hockey

Living in Chicago, the city's hockey team the Blackhawks are the hot topic in town nowadays. They have gotten at least one point in 23 straight games to start their season. A win earns a team two points, and a loss after regulation ends (overtime/shootout) is one point. It is a truly amazing run by the Hawks, but in viewing ESPN the past couple of days, they have not gotten as much airtime as I would expect of another sport.

To clarify, a more American sport. Hockey begun in Iceland and other countries in Europe, along with Canada. When I think of American sports, football, baseball, and basketball come to mind. Not ironically, these are the three sports showed the most on sports news shows such as Sportscenter on ESPN (the world's largest sports network). It could be that because ESPN does not air the NHL that they show less hockey highlights, but if hockey was that popular in America why would they ignore those viewers. And of course viewers would bring in advertisers, which is how networks make their bank.

In my American Studies high school course, we have examined how humans love physical and gruesome entertainment, which hockey definitely possesses. So what is it? Why don't Americans feel the same passion for hockey as football or another major sport played in the States? I think the answer is simple.

Americans are independent and full of pride for their country. Hockey, along with a sport like soccer, were not developed in the US. The typical American might think, "Why should I support these foreign sports when the best sports in the world were created and played in America?" This is an honest opinion, because personally I do like viewing football and baseball over hockey, but maybe not baseball. Baseball is too slow paced for me, but that is for a different discussion.

The Blackhawks run is incredible, but it still will never be as important to the majority of sports fanatics in America as a similar streak held by a football, basketball, or baseball team.

Why do you think hockey is not as big as a sport in America as the other "Big 3" sports (football, basketball, baseball)? What does it tell you about American's and nationalistic mindsets?