Segregation in Sports
Segregation in Sports
Back in 1947 racism was apparent through our country’s various laws oppressing different minority groups. Jackie Robinson witnessed this oppression during his amazing battle with segregation while being the first African American to play professional baseball. He was called derogatory names, fans threw things at him, and he had to deal with a world against him. He battled the oppression that he faced and managed to become one of baseballs greatest players and most storied heroes. He is seen as an icon of the civil rights era, and in the sporting world he is a symbol of triumph and tolerance. He was one of the first successful minorities in sports. With Jackie Robinson, people saw the beginning of the end of segregation in professional sports. In today’s American professional sport culture, segregation still exists; however it is more subtle than it was in the past. Now segregation is no longer fixed in laws, but through socially constructed barriers. The divide in sports is now based on socio economic factors such as wealth, location, and class. We see the late Jackie Robinson’s struggle in other sports fifty years later, with athletes such as Kyle Harrison in professional lacrosse. Kyle is one of four well-known African Americans in the National Lacrosse League. He has battled many stereotypes just to get to where he is today. His struggle illustrates the continual segregation in today’s sports. There is socially constructed segregation in our society today because the majority (whites) actively engages in an exclusive racial contract, as is evident in American professional sports.
The racial contract is a system where the privileges of white people over non-whites are establish and supported at all costs. “We live, then, in a world built on the racial contract”(Mills 30). This contract lets white exploit non-whites and deny them opportunities. This contract was explicit in the past, as evident in the “Jim Crow Laws” and the orderly
Back in 1947 racism was apparent through our country’s various laws oppressing different minority groups. Jackie Robinson witnessed this oppression during his amazing battle with segregation while being the first African American to play professional baseball. He was called derogatory names, fans threw things at him, and he had to deal with a world against him. He battled the oppression that he faced and managed to become one of baseballs greatest players and most storied heroes. He is seen as an icon of the civil rights era, and in the sporting world he is a symbol of triumph and tolerance. He was one of the first successful minorities in sports. With Jackie Robinson, people saw the beginning of the end of segregation in professional sports. In today’s American professional sport culture, segregation still exists; however it is more subtle than it was in the past. Now segregation is no longer fixed in laws, but through socially constructed barriers. The divide in sports is now based on socio economic factors such as wealth, location, and class. We see the late Jackie Robinson’s struggle in other sports fifty years later, with athletes such as Kyle Harrison in professional lacrosse. Kyle is one of four well-known African Americans in the National Lacrosse League. He has battled many stereotypes just to get to where he is today. His struggle illustrates the continual segregation in today’s sports. There is socially constructed segregation in our society today because the majority (whites) actively engages in an exclusive racial contract, as is evident in American professional sports.
The racial contract is a system where the privileges of white people over non-whites are establish and supported at all costs. “We live, then, in a world built on the racial contract”(Mills 30). This contract lets white exploit non-whites and deny them opportunities. This contract was explicit in the past, as evident in the “Jim Crow Laws” and the orderly