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.