On Football and Race

In response to “Football, the great racial leveler [link]”

I see two problems with the argument that the recruitment of blacks and the celebration of black players correlates to a decline in racism.

First, the majority has always been happy to let the minorities entertain them–from prize fighters to gladiators and everything in between. And while the audience may claim their champion, it has never meant that they would let him date their daughters.

Secondly, the argument and article seem oddly dated. The legacy of inequality does live on in the economic status of minorities, and that does inform city demographics, but race is, at this point, secondary in the case of sports. It is the difficulty of a player’s economic background (whether he grew up in a trailer, immigrated from a poor country, had no father, etc.) that make up the stories of the day. I do not think that skin color has been a relevant barrier to entry in athletics in this country for decades.

However, this may be where the article shows its relevance. In the south, these points appear to be often overlooked so that absurd racist rationalizations for white success can continue. So the need for this article exists–anything to educate the uneducated–but suggesting that black players are equal on the field, while quite obvious–if not insultingly so, does not necessarily mean that their audience in the stands believes it too.