Inevitable Racism in Sports: A Short Look

Racism occurs every day and everywhere we cannot get away from it. It is one of the major issues which occur at many different levels in certain fields. In sports, racism is happening more often also becoming a much bigger problem.

Sports plus Leagues such as Barclay’s premiership, Major League Baseball, cricket and NBA (National Basketball Association) consider that they are putting down rules which will get rid of the constant occurrences of racism in the league and sports.

Some Players believe that the leagues, sports and associations are only making the situation worse when they are trying to deal with it, going over the top on certain issues and situations. However, when we look at the whole picture we see how the leagues and sports feel as though they have to do something because it is absolutely certain that it is not the image that they want to depict to a youthful society as role models and powerful people to the spectators.

If you look back at the past history you will be able to see that black people also known as African-American athletes had to go through some of the toughest of times as sports people/participants and you could say world weren’t supportive with black athletes or athlete on a sports team or participating in a sporting event, so most of that made the African-American community tougher since they were struggling people compared to over races.

For example, if you take a look at a number or real black sporting legends in the early days you will know how hard it was for them.

One of the first evidence of racism was towards Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympics 1936 who was one of the first black people to be noticed in the Olympics; also he shocked the world by winning 4 gold medals in the Olympics.

“Hitler’s Nazi party was in power and persecution of the Jews and others had already begun. However, the IOC insisted that the games should take place. Hitler used the games for propaganda purposes to show the superiority of the German people. The black American athlete Jesse Owens defeated Hitler’s aim by winning four gold medals. Hitler congratulated the German winners but not Owens” (AQA, sports examined, Beashel, Sibson, Taylor, pg 332)

This is a major issue because racism is still going on today in certain sports and has not been fully erased yet ,so it needs to be dealt with.

Racism is a part of American history that can never be forgotten; a dark past that shows the constant mistreatment of African-Americans. Although African-Americans were freed from slavery in the 1860’s, discrimination continues to be seen today. Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one 's own race is superior. The white supremacy woven into mainstream American culture led to the continued widespread exclusion of African-Americans.

The white supremacy that flooded America in the 19th and early 20th century is no longer seen in the sporting world. Muhammad Ali (who definitively changed history for African-American people in the United States), as well as looked at sports as a whole throughout history. Through statistics and reports, proof has demonstrated that the sporting world has developed to give more  opportunity for Afro-American athletes to compete than ever before. Athletics creates a platform that gives athletes an opportunity to be more than just an athlete. An opportunity to stand up for what they believe in and bring attention to some of the problems of the world. The past has shown us that athletes can contribute in changing the world and the star power African-American athletes have in the sporting world today is the proof.

Racism in sports has been a problem both in the past and currently exists within our society. Racism has highly affected people’s outlook of reality and has caused a lot of hatred, hurt and violence among people due to their belief that they were superior than other races, in particular ‘blacks’ or any other race that was not viewed as being ‘white’.