Feature: Sport and Human Rights
No.48
September 2006
 
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The Politics of Race and Sport in the Promotion of Human Rights
Doris R.Corbett
 

Abstract
The article will examine the role sport has played in the struggle to secure equality of opportunity and human rights for the underclass in the context of political significance, social order and cultural protest. The author will discuss the social lineage and the limitations of ethnic and racial confrontation through sport to promote human rights. The writer makes the case that an examination of identity, culture and popular culture must be taken into account when looking at sport and the promotion of human rights.

Introduction
A discourse on the politics of race and sport in the promotion of human rights is essential. A conceptual framework to explore the significance of the politics of race and competitive sport in the promotion of human rights is evident in the remarks made by filmmaker Spike Lee. Spike Lee states…
You’re black, you’re a young male, and all you’re supposed to do is deal drugs and mug women. The only reason why you’re here is because you can make their team win. If their teams win, these schools get a lot of money. This whole thing is revolving around money. (Film-maker Spike Lee, in Joravsky 1995, p. 219)

The race issues in society are the framework for this article. The realities of racism and discrimination in the United States are well documented. Thus, the race problems in the United States at large cannot be ignored in an analysis of sport in connection to human rights issues.
The forecast for resolving the race dilemma of the United States, particularly discrimination against African-Americans, is bleak. Examples of racism are present across the country. Consider the video-taped police beatings in 1992 of Rodney King in Los Angeles or Robert Davis, a retired teacher injured during a videotaped beating by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Katrina. Video-taped examples of police officers using excessive force beating African-Americans reveal the realities of existing discrimination. Such incidents create awareness of police misconduct and the prevalence of racism in United States society. These events, although not sport related, reflect the social conditions and political climate in the United States.
The people of the United States could not overlook the racial undertones unmistakable in the recent weather catastrophes, which occurred in the country’s South. Because of racism and the devaluation of African-American lives, hundreds of people drowned and starved in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina (Daley, 2006, p.1; Giroux, 2006, p. 1; Ignatieff, 2005, p.1-4). Sensitive viewers of the Katrina catastrophes did not miss the language used to describe the victims of the storm as refugees, thus liking their displacement as comparable to that of foreigners immigrating to the United States. And, for the overwhelmingly African-American Katrina “refugees” or displaced victims who were huddled in the Houston Astrodome on September 5th, former first lady, Barbara Bush said of them in a radio interview that “…so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (she chuckles) is working very well for them” (Clark, 2005, p.1; The New York Times, 2005, p.A22). One can only wonder how anyone, regardless of their social-economic status, could feel such conditions were working very well for them when they are without homes, jobs, family and friends, and were without the basic necessities for days.
Just weeks following Mrs. Bush’s unsympathetic remarks, former Drug Czar and former education secretary William Bennett told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down…That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down" (Gentry, 2005, p.1). These examples reflect the hypocrisy and cruelty permeating the daily lives of African-Americans. The Bush and Bennett examples represent perspectives grounded in an historical and philosophical point of view, suggesting that African-Americans are lazy and deserve the conditions they find themselves in, just as rich people are virtuous and are rewarded by God for their hard work.
In the language of Lyndon Johnson, Bush ascribed the violence and desperation seen in New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina to “deep, persistent poverty in this region. . . . That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America.” The president then issued a call to the nation: “We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. . . . Let us rise above the legacy of inequality” (Avlon, 2005, p2).
Indeed, society in the United States has a rich and long history of racial injustices. At an earlier time, a system of legalized segregation subjected African-Americans to educational, social, political and economic injustices. Racism is responsible for the evolution of an organized system of practices and policies intended to create racial inequality. In this context, two historical periods were constructed, the Old and New American dilemma (Jones, 1998).
The Old American dilemma (i.e. before the 1960s Civil Rights era) was characterized by moral agitation and apprehension over the struggle of right versus wrong. This was a time of blatant racial segregation and denial of basic civil and human rights as human-kind willfully cultivated and institutionalized human rights violations as a legitimate construct of society. The New American dilemma (i.e. late 1960s to present day) is symbolized by a moral conflict between right versus wrong and race-neutral and race-conscious social policies (Jones, 1998). This era has witnessed a context in which human rights were secured as a result of legislation and judicial decision. There exists today a sense of moral uncertainty as to whether there is a genuine societal commitment to racial and human rights equality.
The Role Sport Plays to Secure Equality of Opportunity and Human Rights
Social science of sport scholars has traditionally avoided using critical race theory to analyze social justice and racial equality issues in sport. Sport social scientists have, for the most part, avoided asking tough fundamental questions involving elite sports and their role in the promotion of human rights. Does participation in certain competitive sports (i.e. basketball, football and track and field) put some racial group members (particularly, the Black athlete) at risk academically? Are Black athletes intentionally socialized to focus more on sport rather than the pursuit of other life opportunities in order to keep them in their place? Are Black athletes systematically subjected to institutional, economic and commercial exploitation? Do athletes of color have basic economic, social and cultural opportunities to access sports such as tennis, golf, skating, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, ice hockey and swimming? Does participation in elite National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate basketball and American style football warrant athletic compensation to athletes beyond the current traditional scholarship awards and payments for tuition and housing? Does intensive sport training qualify as physical abuse and is the training conducted at the expense of the overall health and well-being of the athlete? In comparison to athletes in other environments, are African-American basketball and American style football athletes more frequently subjected to extreme levels of physical and mental abuse? Should promising high school African-American basketball or American style football players be hustled by companies who want to put them under contract or traded between teams for thousands of dollars without being properly informed and consulted? Although Black athletes dominate the sports of basketball and American style football, why are they less visible in board rooms and front offices of sporting institutions at all levels of sport?
These questions about human rights have become increasingly controversial. Like most topics requiring candor, respect and tolerance, the subject of human rights as it relates to sport has not been openly debated and researched. Many questions are off-limits and swept under the rug, while others are being gently addressed and given polite attention. Sports authorities both private and public have avoided the debate concerning the rights-based dimensions of race and sports in the promotion of human rights.
Charles Farrell, Director, Rainbow Coalition for Fairness in Athletics, says:
Athletics is to the Black community what technology is to the Japanese and what oil is to the Arabs. We’re allowing that commodity to be exploited… We really need to turn it around… if those schools cannot do for us what we need done i.e. provide an education for the next generation, and then we should be looking to steer clear of those institutions (Harris & Curry, 1997, p.311-319).
Respecting human rights is not an option for sport authorities, it should be an obligation. But what exactly is meant by the expression “human rights?” In the context of this article, the definition of human rights is taken from the Human Rights Resource Center (Doise, 2003, p. 1-2):
Human Rights are those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity. To violate someone’s human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were not a human being. Human Rights allows for certain standards of life or treatment which are believed to belong to every person and individual? It is the right to life, freedom and human dignity?
Because sport mirrors society, sport is not free from discrimination. Sport has universal human rights value and is a social movement striving to contribute to the development of a peaceful and better world. Society expects many important and worthwhile things from sport and uses sport to support various fundamental human rights, social values and ethical principles such as equality for all people, fair play, respect for the loser, friendship, solidarity, justice and democracy, international peace and understanding. In contrast, sport also values elitism, nationalism, gender equality and the scientific manufacture of winners.
George Sage makes the point that:
Sport in modern societies is one of the means by which nation-states socialize their citizens, transmitting the symbolic codes of the dominant culture and inducing citizens toward conformity to beliefs and values that prevail in the wider society. At the same time, sport is one of the most salient moulders of national collective ------identity (Sage, 1998, p.116).
Michael Jordan, for example, appeals to many corporate sponsors because of his family oriented, wholesome, all-American image and he is the antithesis of the stereotypical threatening Black masculinity so often represented by the media. For many African-Americans there is a need to disown any obvious manifestation of, or reference to, one’s Blackness as a strategy for obtaining acceptance as opposed to alienating “mainstream America”. In the United States, culture and industries have promoted certain images of Blackness, African-Americans and people of color in general. Hoberman (1997) writes that for the Black athlete, it is commonly understood that if you’re going to be a genuine sports hero in this country, a Babe Ruth, DiMaggio or Palmer, you have to keep your political views to yourself. Arthur Ashe shrewdly noted, “Advertisers want somebody who’s politically neutered” (Hoberman, 1997, p. 31-32).

Race and Human Rights: The Political and Symbolic Power of Sports
The need for sports to promote human rights is exemplified by the racial, ethnic and international overtones prevalent in the Olympic Games and many other national and international sporting events. For example, in 1938 the Louis-Schmeling boxing fight was connected to racial and political human rights issues. Hitler preached about the racial superiority of Aryans and conveniently portrayed Schmeling as a symbol of that superiority. Just weeks before the Louis and Schmeling rematch, Joe Louis visited President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the White House and The New York Times quoted Roosevelt as telling the fighter, “Joe, we need muscles like yours to beat Germany” (Cassidy, 2005, p.5). In his 1976 biography, Louis wrote, “I knew I had to get Schmeling good. I had my own personal reasons and the whole damned country was depending on me” (Cassidy, 2005, p.5). Similarly, Jack Johnson who was musical, well-read and literate in five languages and a protagonist of Black civil rights also challenged the status quo. Muhammad Ali became a Muslim and refused induction into the army. As a result, his fights and licenses were cancelled and in 1967 he was sentenced to imprisonment and stripped of his titles. Ali did not politicize boxing but drew attention to Black oppression and was outspoken about his views on Vietnam. Fortunately, in 1970 the Supreme Court was unanimous in setting aside Ali’s conviction.
Sport does mirror and reflect our moral conscious. The 30 nation boycott of the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976, the 61 nation stay-away from Moscow in 1980 and the victory stand demonstrations at the 1968 (Mexico City) and 1972 (Munich) Olympic Games reflect on the social and human rights abuses often felt by African-Americans and the Jewish people. The politics of race and sport in the promotion of human rights is epitomized by the terrorism and killing that took place in Munich in 1972, by the 50 Hungarians who sought refuge during the 1956 Olympic Games, the anti-soviet riots in Czechoslovakia in 1969, South Africa’s apartheid policy and the 1970 “Soccer War” between Honduras and El Salvador. Sport and human rights have always been interconnected, particularly where society’s reputation or national pride were at stake (Corbett, 1999). The Nazis, for example, were quite outspokenly anti-internationalist and racist in the 1930s, particularly toward Jewish people and Negroes. On the occasion of the 1932 Olympics, the official Nazi newspaper Volkischer Beobachter (1932) editorialized:
Negroes have no business at the Olympics. Today we witness that free white men have to compete with the unfree Negro. This is a debasement of the Olympic idea beyond comparison... The next Olympics will be held in Berlin in 1936. We hope that the responsible men know what will be their duty. The blacks have to be expelled. We demand it (August 19, 1932)!
The Olympic Committee on Human Rights (OCHR) played an active role in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and the now famous Black athlete protest and attempted boycott. At the 1968 Olympic Games, Black athletes wore black arm bands, black gloves, a black scarf around the neck and knee-length black socks to protest the injustice to Blacks in the United States. Tommy Smith, in explaining the symbolism of his and John Carlos’s action, stated that:
I wore a black right-hand glove and Carlos wore the left-hand glove of the same pair. My raised right hand stood for the power in Black America. Carlos’ left hand stood for the unity of Black America. Together, they formed an arc of unity and power. The black scarf around my neck stood for Black pride. The black socks with no shoes stood for black poverty in racist America. The totality of our effort was the beginning of Black dignity (Anderberg, 2004, 13:17; Olympic Project for Human Rights, p. 1).
It was one of the 20th century’s most powerful and controversial moments in sport and a watershed event in the civil rights movement. Determined to use the grand stage of the Olympic Games as a platform for protest, Smith and Carlos accepted their 200 meters track & field gold and bronze medals in bare feet (to bring attention to the poverty of the African-American community) wearing beads (in honor of the countless blacks murdered as victims of slavery or racism) and holding black-gloved fists in the air (the “Black Power” salute).
A storm of outrage hit Smith and Carlos immediately. The International Olympic Committee forced the U.S. Olympic Committee to withdraw them from the relays, banish them from the Olympic Village and expel them from the U.S. Olympic team. Both men experienced heavy backlash upon their return home.
Amid worldwide publicity about the events of the 1968 Olympic Games, several items went unreported. First, the origins of and background to the Smith-Carlos behavior were not publicized. Second, the man who finished second to Tommy Smith, Australian Peter Norman, wore the badge of the Olympic Committee for Human Rights throughout the ceremony.
The Intersection of Race, Ethnicity and Sport in the Promotion of Human Rights - A Cultural Protest
Many ethnic, racial, political and human rights examples represent the symbolic power of sport and serve as good indicators of the interconnection and intersection between race, sport and human rights from both an international and national stance (Eitzen & Sage, 1997). The examples that follow exemplify the failure of the politics of race and sport to promote human rights from an international perspective (Corbett, 1999, pp.169-170; Eitzen & Sage, 1997, pp. 181,187):
  • The boot camp that the Springbok (South African National Rugby Union) squad was put through preparing for the 2003 World Cup by Coach Rudolf Straeuli was a national scandal and made the rest of the rugby world roll its collective eyes. Pictures of naked players carrying railway tracks and tractor tires and huddling in a freezing dam were all part of Straeuli's campaign to toughen his players up. Other highlights included fitness instructors smashing eggs on players' heads. Springbok manager Gideon Sam reckoned the exercise was "mild" compared to what many African people put up with every day. "The players looked like prisoners of war. I have no problem with it," he added. Needless to say, Straeuli was gone straight after the Cup, in which the Springboks lost in the quarter-finals to the All Blacks (New Zealand National Rugby Union team).
  • With the Olympic Games being held in Germany in 1936, the United States dropped two Jewish sprinters from the 400-meter relay.
  • In 1948, Israel was excluded from Olympic Games participation because the Arab nations threatened a boycott.
  • In 1956, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq boycotted the Olympic Games because of the Anglo-French seizure of the Suez Canal.
  • Switzerland and the Netherlands withdrew from the Olympic Games in protest after the Soviet Union invaded Hungary.
  • In 1964, South Africa was prevented from participating in the Olympic Games because of its apartheid policies.
  • The Black African nations’ 1976 boycott of the summer Olympic Games occurred because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) failed to ban New Zealand from permitting its rugby team to play in segregated South Africa and The IOC allowed New Zealand to participate in the Games. Twenty-eight African nations boycotted the ‘76 Games.
  • The international protest against South Africa grew and kept South Africa out of the 1968 Olympic Games, setting the stage for South Africa to face complete isolation in international sport.
  • In 1980, President Carter called for the United States to ban the Moscow Olympic Games because the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan. In total, some fifty-four nations, participated in the boycott including West Germany, Canada and Japan.
  • In 1991, The International Olympic Committee agreed to allow South Africa to participate in the 1992 Olympic Games, if South Africa met certain conditions regarding the disassembling of apartheid (Eitzen & Sage, 1997, p. 187).
  • 1992 saw the return of South Africa to the Olympic Games after an absence of 32 years caused by its system of apartheid in sport. With the fall of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as the country’s President, the sports world accepted South Africa. In 1995, South Africa was allowed to host the World Cup in Rugby.
Not unlike the international scene, there are numerous examples from United States sport of how the politics of race and sport have not functioned to promote the human rights of African-Americans. A few cases in point are the following (Corbett, 1999, p. 170):
  • In the 1990's, country clubs throughout the United States that maintained exclusive memberships where challenged to accept minorities. The Birmingham’s Shoal Creek Country Club agreed to admit minorities under the threat of having golf’s Professional Golf Association (PGA) championship withdrawn from the site.
  • In 1993, the Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, California was scheduled to host the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf tournament, but withdrew it’s name in order to avoid bringing attention to the fact the Club had no minority members.
  • The National Football League (NFL) decided to rescind the decision to hold the 1993 Super Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona after the voters of Arizona rejected a paid legal holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his good human rights works.
No one can examine past social, political, economic history and the present plight of African-Americans in sport and in society and intelligently deny that the record is far from perfect. The fundamental importance of human rights and human dignity cannot be overrated. Sport can legitimately play a powerful role in positively advancing the human rights of people in ways that reach far beyond the sporting arena.

References
Anderberg, K. (2004, August 28). More raised black fists at Olympics ceremonies. Retrieved August 28, 2004, from http://www.portland.indymedia.org/ en/2004/08/295721.shtml
Avlon, J.P. (2005, September 23). Lyndon Baines Bush. Retrieved September 27, 2005, from http://www.nysun.com/article/20499
Corbett, D.R. (1999). Ethics and moral behavior in sport: A human rights issue. How You Play the Game Conference Proceedings: The First International Conference on sports and Human Rights. Sydney, Australia.
Cassidy, R. (2005, February 6). Ten-count for Max Schmeling and Coley Wallace. The Sweet Science.com. Retrieved August 28, 2006 from http://www.theseweetscience.com/boxing-article/662/ ten-count-max-schmeling-coley-wall
Clark, K. (2005, September 09). Republicans: In their own words. WhitePrivilege.com. Retrieved August 11, 2006, from http://www.whiteprivilege.com.
Daley, WR (2006, February 9). Public health response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). MMWR. 55(2), 29-30
Doise, W. (2003, December 1). Human rights as social representations. United Kingdom: Routledge.
Eitzen, D.S., & Sage, G.H. (1997). Sociology of North American sport. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark Publishers.
Gentry, P. (2005, September 30). Remarks on Blacks, crime. Retrieved October 5, 2005, from http://www.bet.com
Giroux, H.A. (2006). Reading Hurricane Katrina: Race, class, and the biopolitics of disposal college literature .Retrieved August 19, 2006, from http://muse. jhu.edu/cgi-bin/access.cgi?uri=/journals/college_literature/ v033/33.3giroux.pdf
Harris, O., & Curry, T. (1997). The role of sport in the Black community. The cultural significance of Jackie Robinson. 30, (4), 311-319.
Hoberman, J. (1997). Darwin’s athletes: How sport has damaged Black America and preserved the myth of race.
Ignatieff, M. (2005, September 25). The broken contract. The New York Times.com
Jones, J.M. (Winter, 1998). Psychological knowledge and the new American dilemma of race. Journal of Social Issues, 54( 4), 641-662.
Olympic Project for Human Rights (2000, May 2). Olympic Project for Human Rights. Retrieved August 15, 2006 from http://everything2.com/index.pl? node_id=527620.
Sage, G. H. (1998). Power and ideology in American sport: A critical perspective. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
The New York Times. (2005, September 7). Barbara Bush calls evacuees better off, A22.


Contact
Dr. Doris R.Corbett,
Department of Health, Human Performance and Leisure Studies
Howard University, Washington
USA
dcorbett@howard.edu



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