Advocacy, Politics, and the Sporting World’s Responses to Racial Unrest

Abstract

In America, usually politics and sports have remained separate entities. In this chapter, the authors examine the renewed activism of a new generation of Black athletes – activism that began with the high profile killing of unarmed Blacks, mostly by the police in 2012 and 2014, and the ensuing racial protests. To provide context, we examine the brief period of activism by Black athletes in the middle of the twentieth century – activism that almost completely disappeared for the next half-century. We use critical race theory as our theoretical framework, which allows the reader to understand why structural racism perpetuates racial inequality in America today. This inequality has caused a new generation of Black athletes to get off the sidelines and become advocates for social justice. The summer of 2020 provided the perfect storm for Black athletes to take their advocacy to another level: a president who derided Black athletes, police killings that energized marginal communities and spawned protests around the nation and the world demanding that Black Lives Matter, and the realization by Black athletes they could use their celebrity status to bring about real change at the ballot box.