RACISM IN SPORT

Racism in Sport

Name of the Writer

Name of the Institution

Abstract

This paper discusses the racism in sports. The concept of racism is examined in the context of profession issues faced by athletes and ethical issue involvement. The paper also proposed strategy to provide viable solutions to racism.

Racism in Sport

Introduction

Racism can be explained in a number of ways. In this paper, the racism problem can be described as the transformation of race discrimination through power exercise adjacent to a particular racial group identified as inferior, by institutions and individuals with the unintentional or intentions support of the whole culture.

In sport, racism is referred to athletes only because these sportspersons are the most widespread in the professional team of the world sports. The problem of racism is focused on these athletes. The reality of sport world is that African-Americans are generally looking down as compared to whites.

Discussion

Background

The racism problem is not new in the world of sports. When racial injustice is maintained by laws and institutions, racism is evident. For instance, in America, athletes are provided an opportunity to take part in sports based on their racial percentage in the country or state. An executive of Los Angeles Dodgers in 1987 was interviewed at the event of Nightline and ask why black managers are not employed in baseball. He responds by saying that he believed that blacks can serve as a field manager or possibly a general manager. Furthermore, he associated words like why black men are not good swimmers and replied to his own question by saying that they do not have the good spirits. From his statements, once again becomes clear that racism cannot be outlawed from sports (Hoberman, 1997).

Another example of racism in sport can be seen from Martin Luther King in the year 1988. During an interview, by the Greek Snyder named Jimmy, who was a football commentator of CBS asked Martin on the topic of blacks in football. He replied by saying that blacks are better athlete as they are bred because of their big size. He also asserted that white can only perform the coaching jobs in football.

An additional example that demonstrated racism as one of the most prominent problem in sport during 1992 Cincinnati Reds' suspension who was an owner Marge Schott because she called black athletes as million dollars niggers, as well as she would prefer a trained monkey to work from her than a nigger (Orfield & Lebowitz, 1999).

During 20th Century, the heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson was the first African American to be crowned, but he was the most hated person in America as he got associated with white women; hence Americans perceive him as a threat for purity of white women. As a result, the promoters desperately looked for white America who can replace Johnson, which proves African Americans inferiority due to racism (Sammons, 1990).

Problem in the Profession

There are a number of profession problem in the field of sports related to racism. Many people argued that blacks ...