African American Athlete

Colleges across the country continue to relax their admission standards to enroll highly sought after African-American male athlete-students despite their education shortcomings. The primary reason you ask, money. From 2012 to the present, NCAA annual revenue exceeds $800 million dollars (NCAA n.p.). The African-American male athlete-student generates millions of dollars in revenue for colleges every year (Bateman 796). According to Billy Hawkins, author of the “New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominately White NCAA Institutions”, big-time college athletic programs not only profit from the African-American athlete-students athletic prowess, but profit of the use of their name and image (Bateman 796). Angela Davis’ quote about black bodies will be forever

Furthermore, proponents will argue that college athletic programs spend tons of money on state-of-the-art resources to help athlete-students to meet their graduation requirements (NCAA n.p.). I am in agreement with proponents regarding athlete-students receiving a free education and tons of free academic support and other resources. However, college athletes with too many academic challenges are enrolled in colleges by way of relaxed admission and academic standards are still faced with the difficulty of surviving the rigors of college. Unfortunately, for these athletes, the mainstream media saturate the internet with negative headlines about African-American male athletes every day: “Weak Graduation Rates for Black Male College Athletes” or “Report Reveals Dismal Graduation Rates for Black Male College Athletes”. In my opinion, it sends the wrong message to young children in African-American