Max Weatherly

Buchanan
HHP 360
Chapter 8 Review
Race and Ethnicity
This chapter focuses on the race and ethnic issues associated with sports and how
segregation was a huge part of the sports culture as well as political issues that directly impacted
sports. These issues allowed people (not just men), of all races and ethnic backgrounds to come
together and enjoy sports. These political issues would break down any barriers between races
which allowed a more competitive match between clubs because of the new talent that was
brought in.
For example, the Negro Leagues in the early years of baseball was a great measure of
how far we have come in discrimination and civil rights. Not only was the discrimination
against African Americans but all different backgrounds. The civil rights movements took place
and people of color were granted the same rights as the whites were which opened up new
opportunities and new beginnings for some athletes. Jackie Robinson is a huge role model for
someone who was facing adversity every day during his sporting career. Not only did the banter
and intimidation to leave the whites-only leagues follow him to every field he went, but it had
a negative impact on his daily life with his family.
Racial ideologies are interrelated ideas and beliefs that classify human beings in
categories. Not only did these ideologies create racial tensions, but they were passed down from
generation to generation dating back to the civil war days when slavery was rampant throughout
the south. Some of these ideologies, sadly, still exist today in these regions. Racism then
becomes the norm after these ideologies are passed down, which can cause violence.

Sports should be played for the love of the game, for the betterment of your well-being,
and should be instilled in the youth as a growing and teaching lesson on so many more attributes
than a simple skill set. Sports bring out determination, desire, hard work, and drive that nonathletes simply do not have. The will to be the best and to do your best takes over an athletes
mind, and this drives them to push themselves and break limits they had no idea they could
break. This is the goal of sports, not to push on your ideologies and racism to people playing a
sport, race has nothing to do with sports skill.
Growing up in the mixing bowl of Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C., I
had encountered many races and different cultures growing up all throughout K-12. Most of the
racial issues and various cultures that were present there are not down here in this part of
Virginia. There were Arabic/Middle-Eastern people, and a wide range of Asian cultures that
were prevalent in the high ranking school systems. Sports teams at the high school and even
throughout RecLeague were pretty diverse, so having these negative ideologies never really was
an issue, but coming down to the south I can understand how the discrimination and segregation
work and talking to people from this area and various regions of the south I can see that it is a
taught trait. Not all people are racists, and discriminative, that is for sure; but the tensions are
still high.
A huge part of the bashing of other cultures in athletics could be due to the fact they are
simply better than you, and justifying your failure by ridiculing someone else based off their
skin, is not only petty but ignorant and slap in the face of the progress weve made this far in
civil rights effort. Ive heard before Oh, they are black, they can run fast Oh they are black,
they can jump high white people cant jump etc. This is fueling the fire that we try to
extinguish. These stereotypes play into the discrimination and hatred that has lingered since the

1800s and that is NOT what sports are about one bit. Growing up playing a wide variety of
sports, competitive activities and club sports has become a huge passion of mine regardless of
skin color on my team. I came out to play a game I love, and to hopefully win doing it! Thats
what sports should be about, and thats what we need to teach the coming generations.