Racial Discrimination In Sports

The world has always been a divided place: lands are separated by the sea, states are partitioned by imaginary lines, and societies are segregated by prejudice and stereotypes. Humans have a tendency to categorize themselves based on certain qualities, such as gender, skin color, and wealth. These tendencies create epidemics of human right violations, and extend through all facets of life, even including time away from work and the “real” world, such as in sports. Although sports appears to be a unifying force that can be appreciated by people from all walks of life, when sports are more closely examined, the lack of equality and promotion of segregation between genders, races, and social classes unfortunately becomes extremely evident.

Racism in society has extended into the world of sports, “Sports in the United States has a long history of racial and ethnic exclusion.” (Sport Participation Among Ethnic Minorities in the U.S.) Stereotyping athletes has caused “members of ethnic minority groups played sports, they usually played among themselves in games and events segregated by choice or by necessity.” (Sport Participation Among Ethnic Minorities in the U.S.) Even in arguably one of the most liberal states, Massachusetts, racism is still a prominent issue, according to many high profile people including Mayor Marty Walsh. Following that “NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell, who won 11 championships as a player with the Boston Celtics from 1956-1969, called the city a ‘flea market of racism.’Boston, Russell wrote, ‘had all varieties, old and new, and in their most virulent form. The city had corrupt, city hall-crony racists, brick-throwing, send-’em-back-to-Africa racists, and in the university areas phony radical-chic racists.’”(Boston Racism) Additionally, “the Red Sox were the last major league baseball team to field a black player, in 1959 [and] several historical reports paint the team’s management at the time as openly racist.”(Boston Racism) Although many years have passed from that era, racism in the sports world is continuing to segregate society. Ethnic minorities are not

While everyone has the option to follow any sport, “there are two kinds of spectators -those who attend in person and those who watch or listen on television or radio. Examining first the attendance at our live sporting event, the data show a consistently strong relationship between sports attendance and social class. Foremost, the higher the income, education attainment, or both, the more likely the individual will attend.” (Social Class and Sport) Many New Englanders will proudly cheer for the Patriots, but the location from whence they claim Brady is the greatest of time: A luxury box, a top row “nosebleed” seat, or from their couch, reveals the stratification that sports can cause. Furthermore, commercials played during golf tournaments greatly differ from those aired during a WWE match because, “clearly, advertisers have researched sports audiences and have discerned that for some sports activities, the audiences are disproportionately from certain social classes”. (Social Class and Sport) Social class not only divides spectators, but also affects the sports people play, caste “largely defines the types sports individuals choose participate in, their level of involvement, and affects their chances of success in the sport.” (Social Class and Sport Website) Wealthier people “tend to avoid participating in prole sports; the sports that stress physical contact, toughness,