Racism In Sports
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With the publicly aired audio recording of the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’srecent comments and the banana throwing incident involving a fan at the El Madrigal stadium in Spain, racism has again raised its ugly head in sports. For those who are not aware of the details of the aforementioned incidents, here follows a brief summary. A fan threw a banana at FC Barcelona’s defender Dani Alves while he was about to take a corner kick. The day before that Barcelona game, TMZ – the Celebrity news website-
We should not be surprised by these expressions of bigotry. Racist attitudes still exist in many quarters. Despite this, however, the public outcry and official and individual responses to these and other acts have clearly shown that racism in sport will not be tolerated and that those who practice it will be dealt with swiftly and mercilessly and in significant ways.
Sport is probably the closest thing to a meritocracy in our society all and interested parties have a social responsibility on this issue. Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory which holds that individuals and organizations – government or corporate have a responsibility to society. This responsibility can be “negative,” in that it is a responsibility to refrain from acting (resistance stance) or it can be “positive,” meaning there is a responsibility to act (proactive stance).
Dani Alves’ reaction to the banana thrown at him was brilliant. Without even looking at the crowd he picked up the banana, peeled it, and then ate part of it before taking the corner appearing unfazed by the racist gesture. After the game Alves tweeted as follows:
“I don’t know who threw the banana, but I’d want to thank him. It gave me energy to give 2 more crosses that ended up in goal.”
Shortly after the game a pre-
Another example of an athlete being socially responsible is Thierry Henry. Henry, who has also experienced racism, started an anti-
“Despite their small numbers, racists influence the atmosphere and people around them by shouting over the silent majority. You probably can’t change the hard core racists, but by urging the majority to stand up and speak out against them, we can make these people feel less comfortable spouting their racism.”
Henry experienced racism not from fans but through an act from an opposing coach before a national game. He was involved in an incident in 2005 in which an obscene slur was captured by TV cameras and broadcast around the world. The Spanish national coach was trying to motivate his player by urging him to be better than “that black s_ _ t.” Henry recalled:
“I did not comment on the matter because I believed the authorities would deal with the situation.”
The authorities did not handle the situation to Henry’s liking so he agitated for the anti-
“I wanted to show that racism affects all of us and that they are all banding together because they were all suffering together,” he said.
“Stand Up, Speak Up” raised money by selling nearly 5 million intertwined black and white bracelets to fans for US$2 dollars. The proceeds went to various anti-
The National Basketball Association of North America (NBA) handled the Donald Sterlingincident extremely well. The fans, players, sponsors, owners and eventually the league made strong statements condemning Sterling’s actions. They spoke with one voice: there is no place for racism in the NBA.The players’ union said that they were prepared not to participate in any playoff games if the punishment by the NBA Commissioner was not sufficient.
When asked about Sterling’s comments, Lebron James [of the NBA] said:
“If the reports are true, it's unacceptable. It's unacceptable in our league. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, Hispanic, whatever, all across the races. It's unacceptable and as a commissioner in our league, they have to make a stand, and they have to be very aggressive with it. I don't know what it's going to be, but you just can't have that in our league.”
Now that is a strong statement from the league’s marquee player
What is also of great significance is the fact sponsors such as Carmax and State Farm ended their association with the Clippers’ franchise which signals that racist actions can have financial ramifications as well. Teams might think that they can survive some negative PR for a few months but affecting their pockets is what hurts these billionaires the most. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Donald Sterling from all Clippers and NBA related business for life. He will not be allowed to attend NBA games, practice or summer league games. A hefty fine of US$2.5 million was imposed on Mr. Sterling and the Commissioner promised to have a vote of the 29 other owners soon to force the Clippers into new ownership. Kudos to Commissioner Silver for taking such a firm stance!
Sport is a unifying factor. Different races, cultures, nationalities, religions may be present in one locker room or in one stadium. Let us do our part to point out racism when we see it and demand more from ourselves and those in authority whenever it raises its ugly head again.
REFERENCES
TIME. Crumley, B.“Personal Goals.” Time.com. 02 Oct. 2005. Web. 30 Apr. 2014http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/printout/0,13155,1112776,00.html
CBS. Moore, M. “Lebron James: ‘No room’ for Sterling in NBA if comments accurate.” Cbssports.com. 26. Apr. 2014. Web. 01 May. 2014. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-
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