Public Commentary

Racism in American Sports: Is There a Reason for Concern?
By Greg Robinson

Fisher DeBerry, the head football coach at the Air Force Academy, when asked about the Air Force’s recent loss to Texas Christian University, said that TCU had more Afro-American players and they were much faster than the Air Force players. He is being vilified in the press and talk radio as a racist, the Air Force Academy is forcing him to apologize for his remarks, and his job may be at risk after over 20 years as head coach.

A few days later, baseball’s all-time home run leader and Hall of Fame member Henry Aaron, lamented the fact that the Houston Astros did not have a single Black American on their roster and only 9% of major league baseball players are Black Americans.

What struck me about the uproar around both of these comments is that neither of these situations seem particularly racist in nature to me. As a Black American*, the popular perception is that because of my heritage I should feel some since of outrage or injustice based on these situations. Well I am offended, but not by Fisher DeBerry or Major League Baseball..

Part of the reason that I have no issue with Fisher DeBerry is that people often confuse racism with stereotypes. So I think the definition from The American Heritage Dictionary adds some clarity:

• Racism is defined as the notion that one’s own ethnic stock is superior.
• A Stereotype is defined as a conventional, formulaic, and usually over-simplified conception, opinion or belief. A person, group, event or issue considered to typify or conform to an unvarying pattern or manner, lacking any individuality.

Mr. DeBerry certainly stereotyped both Black and White athletes (the former as fast and the latter as slow), but I seriously doubt that he did it out of an intent to offend or project the White race’s apparent lack of foot speed as indicative as some form of greater genetic superiority.

Mr. DeBerry certainly stereotyped both Black and White athletes (the former as fast and the latter as slow), but I seriously doubt that he did it out of an intent to offend or project the White race’s apparent lack of foot speed as indicative as some form of greater genetic superiority.

Mr. DeBerry was not just using an old stereotype to make a point, he was also relying on behavioral observation and on-field performance in making his comments. You may not like what he said or that he used a stereotype in the process or he wasn’t politically correct in his comments, but don’t accuse him of being a racist for something that can be proven to be true based on performance.

Henry Aaron brings up the question of racism from a different angle. In this case, he seems to insinuating the Major League Baseball has some type of institutional problem because only 9% of the major league players are Black Americans. What immediately struck me about his comments about my Houston Astros (being a fan of the Astros for the last 37 years, I claim them as my own even though they lost the World Series) is that I did not even realized that they did not have a single Black American on the roster. As a fan, I was more concerned about how their roster lacked anyone who could hit with runners in scoring position—I am sure I would have been equally happy if anyone of any color or nationality could have gotten a few clutch hits.

The problem with Mr. Aaron raising this issue is that it is so high profile that it detracts from the real racial issues that exist in America. With 30 teams and a 25-man roster, there are 750 major league jobs for players. 67 players are Black Americans. Given that Black Americans are 12.3% of the US population, a pro rata representation in the game would result in 25 additional Black American players. Why should anyone care about this?

Mr. Aaron points his finger at the Astros, yet this team was the first to develop a baseball academy in Venezuela to find emerging talent in a country where baseball is a national passion. Is it possible that the Astros are intentionally trying to ignore talented Black American ballplayers but not funding local baseball academies? Or is the real problem that baseball is no longer America’s pastime and for the average 9-10 year old in this country, playing baseball is just plain BORING?

The average 9 or 10 year old is more interested in sports that allow them to be active (running, throwing, shootings, hitting) rather than reflective. During the average game for 9-10 year old, they get three times at bat and two balls in the field. This is about 10 minutes of action (if you get on base) out of 2 hours of game time—not exactly exciting for the Game Boy generation. Is it any wonder that more of them are choosing football, basketball and soccer where they are active throughout the game?

There are three places where I take offense with these discussions:
 

1. Ruining the reputations and careers of people by labeling them as racist when they have used a stereotype that has a clear factual basis AND has no negative effect. Are we to judge Fisher DeBerry one comment or his body of work over the last two decades?
    
2. Using professional sports as the forum for discussing race relations in America. Where professional and college sports were once a vehicle for integrating society, it does not serve that purpose today. Focusing on getting more Black American baseball players distracts the nation from focusing on more pressing, but lower profile issues.
    
3. Talk show personalities telling me why I am wrong not to be offended. The aura of moral and intellectual superiority they take on when they talk about race is offensive—they are right and, if you don’t agree with them, you are both wrong and inferior.

As a Black American, I am capable of deciding for myself what is offensive and inappropriate when it comes to discussions about my race. Enough of the pundits and talking heads driving their agenda of political correctness on issues of race. Racial differences exist, but acknowledging them openly does not make you a racist. If America is ever going to get to a place where we don’t need to talk about race, we need to develop the skills to talk about the truly important issues in an open, fact-based, productive way.

*I personally detest the term African American and do not consider myself African American because I wasn’t born there, my parents weren’t born there, my grandparents weren’t born there, and I have only been there once. Add to that the blood of a German slave owner, a rumored bit of Choctaw, and the lack of accurate shipping records, which make it difficult to identify which of the 55 countries on the continent of Africa my ancestors “came” from; diminish my affiliation with the Dark Continent. The label “Black” for people of color is also a bit of a misnomer given that there are 36 different shades of color for those people who we choose to label as “Black” because of their blood lines.