No.48 September 2006 |
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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):
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):
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
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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
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Hoberman, J. (1997). Darwin’s athletes: How
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Olympic Project for Human Rights (2000, May 2). Olympic
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Sage, G. H. (1998). Power and ideology in American sport: A critical
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A22.
Contact
Dr. Doris R.Corbett, Department of Health, Human Performance and Leisure Studies Howard University, Washington USA dcorbett@howard.edu ![]() http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 |