Race, Sport and Politics


Book Description

Written by one of the leading international authorities on the sociology of race and sport, this is the first book to address sport′s role in ′the making of race′, the place of sport within black diasporic struggles for freedom and equality, and the contested location of sport in relation to the politics of recognition within contemporary multicultural societies. Race, Sport and Politics shows how, during the first decades of the twentieth century, the idea of ′the natural black athlete′ was invented in order to make sense of and curtail the political impact and cultural achievements of black sportswomen and men. More recently, ′the black athlete′ as sign has become a highly commodified object within contemporary hyper-commercialized sports-media culture thus limiting the transformative potential of critically conscious black athleticism to re-imagine what it means to be both black and human in the twenty-first century. Race, Sport and Politics will be of interest to students and scholars in sociology of culture and sport, the sociology of race and diaspora studies, postcolonial theory, cultural theory and cultural studies.




Race, Politics, and Basketball


Book Description

Storytelling is one of the oldest, yet most provocative human art forms. It allows us to learn through the illustration and presentation of events as they happened in real time, through the words of those who participated, allowing the reader to understand and recognize the unvarnished truth. As a means of education and learning, it is innately valuable. Speaking of race and racism, it allows us to underscore our values and principles of social justice. It allows the participants to express their insights and knowledge through their actual experiences. The author has done just that with Race, Politics, and Basketball – a fascinating story of race, racism, politics, education, and inequality in the early 1970s, told through the voices of those who were there, who witnessed it and were a part of it. It provides the juxtaposition of good and decent white kids with an unparalleled mentor who kept them on the straight and narrow, against good and decent Black and Cape Verdean kids who were forced to face the daily forces of inequality and racial unrest each and every day. The summer of 1970 was immensely educational for all who experienced it. The Vietnam War, the civil rights movements, Black Panthers, a long, dreary recession with high unemployment – all explained through the voices of white and Black kids and adults who were there, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, living through it, and navigating the ebbs and fl ows of their daily lives. In the middle of it all, a 17 year old Cape Verdean kid, standing outside a club in the city’s West End, during a period of unrest, was gunned down by three white kids from the suburbs. They didn’t even know him. To top it off, they were all acquitted at trial, despite the fact that the guy who shot the gun confessed to it. The book tells a fascinating story of inequality, race, and politics that can help us understand the struggles that we are still going through today, as we try to understand and reconcile our differences, and treat everyone as equals. Anyone interested in the issue of race and racism in America today should read this story. Gerry Kavanaugh is the Senior Vice Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He was the Chief of Staff to Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Washington, DC, and now lives in New Bedford with his wife, Colleen.




The Inside Game


Book Description

In the fall of 1999, Wayne Embry was so highly thought of by his peers that he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor to the game. In the summer of 1999, the Cleveland Cavaliers thought so little of him that they replaced him as general manager. Now in his new autobiography, The Inside Game, Embry, who was once sent home from a game when a bullet was found on his seat, tells the inside story of his fall from grace and the part he believes racism played in it. He deals with the unsavory dealings that led to his departure from the Cavs and introduces startling information about one of the most highly regarded coaches in the league. He discusses the social and economic changes affecting the league and other problems threatening to destroy it. His book is part historical perspective, part inside look behind the scenes, part business strategy and part social commentary




Black Men on the Blacktop


Book Description

"Presents basketball, and especially pickup basketball, as a text of the political, social, and economic struggles of black men in the United States" --




Globetrotting


Book Description

Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union deplored the treatment of African Americans by the U.S. government as proof of hypocrisy in the American promises of freedom and equality. This probing history examines government attempts to manipulate international perceptions of U.S. race relations during the Cold War by sending African American athletes abroad on goodwill tours and in international competitions as cultural ambassadors and visible symbols of American values. Damion L. Thomas follows the State Department's efforts from 1945 to 1968 to showcase prosperous African American athletes including Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and the Harlem Globetrotters as the preeminent citizens of the African Diaspora, rather than as victims of racial oppression. With athletes in baseball, track and field, and basketball, the government relied on figures whose fame carried the desired message to countries where English was little understood. However, eventually African American athletes began to provide counter-narratives to State Department claims of American exceptionalism, most notably with Tommie Smith and John Carlos's famous black power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Exploring the geopolitical significance of racial integration in sports during the early days of the Cold War, this book looks at the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations' attempts to utilize sport to overcome hostile international responses to the violent repression of the civil rights movement in the United States. Highlighting how African American athletes responded to significant milestones in American racial justice such as the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Thomas surveys the shifting political landscape during this period as African American athletes increasingly resisted being used in State Department propaganda and began to use sports to challenge continued oppression.




Writings on the Wall


Book Description

A New York Times and Washington Post Bestseller Bestselling author, basketball legend and cultural commentator Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explores the heart of issues that affect Americans today. Since retiring from professional basketball as the NBA's all-time leading scorer, six-time MVP, and Hall of Fame inductee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has become a lauded observer of culture and society, a New York Times bestselling author, and a regular contributor to The Washington Post, TIME magazine and TIME.com. He now brings that keen insight to the fore in Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White, his most incisive and important work of non-fiction in years. He uses his unique blend of erudition, street smarts and authentic experience in essays on the country's seemingly irreconcilable partisan divide - both racial and political, parenthood, and his own experiences as an athlete, African-American, and a Muslim. The book is not just a collection of expositions; he also offers keen assessments of and solutions to problems such as racism in sports while speaking candidly about his experiences on the court and off. Timed for publication as the nation debates whom to send to the White House, the combination of plain talk on issues, life lessons, and personal stories places Writings on the Wall squarely in the middle of the conversation, as many of Abdul-Jabbar's topics are at the top of the national agenda. Whether it is sparring with Donald Trump, within the pages of TIME magazine, or full-length features in the The New York Times Magazine, writers, critics, and readers have come to agree on what The Washington Post observed: Abdul-Jabbar "has become a vital, dynamic and unorthodox cultural voice."




Midnight Basketball


Book Description

Sport-based intervention programs designed to divert poor minority youth from gangs and crime got their start with the Midnight Basketball initiatives of the late 1980s. Hartmann explains the mystery of why a basketball- based program became popular as a solution to problems of crime and poverty in dozens of American cities. In part, then, this book is a history, but also a cultural analysis to explain the prominence of these programs at first (and then so controversial later on), and how they were expanded upon in the years that followed. In fact, it was in Chicagohome of Michael Jordan and the Bullsthat Midnight Basketball first achieved prominence. Under the direction of former Congressman Jack Kemp and the Chicago Housing Authority, two leagues were organized, in Rockwell Gardens and the Henry Horner Homes. To understand why the program caught on, Hartmann explores the policy transformations of the period (such as the new penology and neoliberal paternalism), and, at length, he gets into the cultural tensions and institutional realities that shaped this program and the entire field of sport-based social policy. In the end, Midnight Basketball, Race, and Neoliberal Social Policy provides a one-of-a-kind view of the culture of sport and race in America, and neoliberal policy broadly conceived."




After Artest


Book Description

Explores how the NBA moved to govern black players and the expression of blackness after the “Palace Brawl” of 2004.




Sports Matters


Book Description

Sports Matters brings critical attention to the centrality of race within the politics and pleasures of the massive sports culture that developed in the U.S. during the past century and a half.




Full Dissidence


Book Description

A bold and impassioned meditation on injustice in our country that punctures the illusion of a postracial America and reveals it as a place where authoritarianism looms large. Whether the issues are protest, labor, patriotism, or class division, it is clear that professional sports are no longer simply fun and games. Rather, the industry is a hotbed of fractures and inequities that reflect and even drive some of the most divisive issues in our country. The nine provocative and deeply personal essays in Full Dissidence confront the dangerous narratives that are shaping the current dialogue in sports and mainstream culture. The book is a reflection on a culture where African Americans continue to navigate the sharp edges of whiteness—as citizens who are always at risk of being told, often directly from the White House, to go back to where they came from. The topics Howard Bryant takes on include the player-owner relationship, the militarization of sports, the myth of integration, the erasure of black identity as a condition of success, and the kleptocracy that has forced America to ask itself if its beliefs of freedom and democracy are more than just words. In a time when authoritarianism is creeping into our lives and is being embraced in our politics, Full Dissidence will make us question the strength of the bonds we think we have with our fellow citizens, and it shows us why we must break from the malignant behaviors that have become normalized in everyday life.