History of Racism in Sports

Racism in sports has its roots in the history of racism in Europe. Kleg writes, for example:

The Achaeans and Dorians who invaded Greece beginning in the twelfth century B.C., destroyed the Bronze Age culture of Mycenaean Greece and ushered in a "dark age" from which it took centuries to recover. These invaders . . . were regarded as boorish compared to the civilizations of the Near East and Egypt that were already thousands of years old. When these Greeks finally became civilized and developed a flourishing culture, they looked upon others as inferior and barbaric. . . . (Kleg, 1993, 86-87).

It was not until the conquest of nations in Africa that the practice of "chattel slavery" became widespread, and this practice was institutionalized by Europeans in the New World: "The African was different from his European overseer--he or she had dark skin. The association between the inferior status of slaves and dark skin was made and has persisted to this day" (Kleg, 1993, 88).

European racism translated easily to the United States because Europeans, after all, were the founders on the United States. Kleg writes that

During the time European Jewry was being converted into a racial stock and being driven to the precipice of the Holocaust, racism in the United States was achieving a new stranglehold on the morality and social conscience if the Land of Freedom and Equality. The major targets of racism were Blacks, Native Americans, Asians, and immigrants from southern and eas

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g a tantrum at a coach's decision, or beating his chest and howling after committing a good play than seeing him do something dumb on the court" (Steinhorn and Diggs-Brown, 1999, 161-162). The comparison is between Stockton and Dennis Rodman, a flamboyant and often out-of-control black player. It could be argued that the suggestion is that Rodman is something of a dangerous animal, whereas Stockton is an example of civilized man. This comparison is significant because the middle-class is seen as the class to which "real" Americans belong, as opposed to the "lazy" poor and the "elite" rich. It makes no matter that almost every player in the National Basketball Association, certainly including Stockton, is a millionaire several times over. In other words, whites may flock to sporting events and pay billions of dollars to watch blacks play, but in the backs of many of their minds they continue to see blacks as "savages" who could lose control at any moment. Blacks who "control themselves," on the other hand, are highly esteemed by white America. Baseball player Jackie Robinson, for example, withstood hatred and taunts to break the color line in our national pastime. His demeanor in the face of hostility, his patience and sel

Category: Psychology - H