Tanjuakio 1

Julian Tanjuakio
Dr. Rosenberg
ANTH401
April 30, 2015
Race in American Sports: Reflection of NBA on society
No matter where you go in America, professional sports are
viewed in high regard. Thousands pay hundreds of dollars to watch in
person, their favorite team or player perform. If not attending live,
viewers religiously tune into the TV to watch their team battle off.
Professional sports in America are a multi-billion dollar industry ranging
from clothing, entertainment, advertisements, and even video games.
Sports is so embedded in American culture and society that it can
often reflect the prevailing societal views which are regarded as
inherently American. However, this also means that even negative
aspects of our history, which are still prevalent in modern American
society, can also be found in American sports, perhaps on an even
larger scale. The National Basketball Association, which is 75% African
American serves as a primary example of these negative stigmas,
which connect American society with sport. There is no doubt that
racial stereotypes have been and are still prevalent in the thoughts of
Americans across the country. More so in the NBA, racial stereotypes
have taken new level of prevalence in which biological and genetic
underpinnings are used to justify certain beliefs. Though convincing at

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first glance these views may not have as strong a foundation as most
may think. This paper takes a anthropological view on race and applies
it to the NBA. While outlining the various arguments for biological
differences in race, I will argue the cultural and environmental factors
that may attribute to these perceived differences.
Like most sports in America, the early stages of professional
basketball were marked by racial segregation. It wasnt until 1950,
about 30 years after professional basketball emerged, when the first
African American basketball players played on teams with white
players. Before this, all black teams coined as Black Fives only played
against

other

African

American

teams.

Even

with

the

official

acceptance of African Americans into the NBA, their role in impacting

the game was still quite limited. Used mainly as role players for
defending and rebounding, black basketball players were still subject
to the racism of the early 20 th century. Bill Russell, however, who
started in the NBA in 1956, became one the first superstar African
American players. As a Boston Celtic, he led his team to eleven NBA
finals being the most decorated NBA champion in the history of the
sport. Alongside Bill Russell in pioneering the way for African
Americans to star status in the NBA were Earl Lloyd, and Chuck Cooper.
Since then countless African Americans have reached top success in
the NBA. Today, basketball is largely considered a black mans sport
due to the sheer disparity in race. For the past two decades, the

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composition of NBA players has been more than 75% African American.
Furthermore, on the 2012 Olympics Mens basketball team, 11 out of
12 players were black.
Regarding skillset and physical ability in professional basketball,
it is clear that black players lead on all fronts. Where the role players
used to black players in the past, today, the role players are mainly
white players used for the either 3-point shooting ability and or for
their large size in rebounding. Though in the 21 st century our society is
not faced with the same racial problems that previous generations
dealt with, there is still underlying beliefs about race in American
society and what each race means. Despite the clean hearted-ness of
racial stereotypes, they are often rooted in beliefs of racial superiority
and do not agree with the anthropological view of race.
The idea of race in an anthropological is primarily that of a basis
in

social

and

cultural

differences

between

groups.

Throughout

American history, society has tackled and fought with the notion that
race has significant biological meaning. Though previously thought of
as a biological term with a foundation in genetics, modern scientists
have broken down that definition of race. Race in biological terms is
arbitrary social constructs and thus not useful concept in explaining
differences between groups. A more correct approach in thinking about
differences in population would be genetic diversity in which actual
DNA sequences can explain variation between groups.

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At first thought explaining racial disparity through a genetic and
biological lens may prove to be the easiest and simplest argument to
make. Especially in sports like basketball, where physical attributes
such as height, strength, and quickness are key factors being
successful, applying genetics to these traits provides an seemingly
intuitive

explanation.

Though

impossible

to

perform

controlled

experiments to gather objective data on this argument, many

researchers have asserted that African-American athletes display
innate physical superiority over their white counterparts. The most
common argument is a Darwinist approach to African American and
their history in America. Graves asserts that influences of the extreme
hardships that Africans had to go through during slavery determined
genetic differences between whites and Africans which favored traits
needed to survive. This proposed theory of survival of the fittest
relies on the assumption that slave owners selectively chose those
slaves most fit for hard labor. As a result through generations of
weeding out those who were capable of performing such tasks, the
genetic composition of the African American population began to shift
to one that would favor traits such as strength and endurance.
Proponents of this theory believe that much like the eugenics
movement in the early 20th century, a social movement which sought
advance the human race through selective breeding and sterilization,
the slave owners systematically bred a race of African-Americans

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distinct from their originating African population. During the eugenics
movements researchers such as Robert Bean justified the sterilization
of African Americans due his belief that they displayed below average
cognitive abilities, and whos skillset only fit for menial jobs and
athletic games.
Attempts in confirming this natural ability in todays population
of African Americans, researchers have studies Canadian and American
elementary school children and their physical abilities. Overall,
researchers concluded that during development, African American
school children show more advanced motor skills compared to white
school children. Research also showed that African American children
demonstrate more advanced rhythmic pattern indicating a distinct
richness in movement skillset. A recent study observed lung capacity
and muscle type in different races. Their results showed that African
American show greater percentage of type II muscle. While this data
may in fact be true that African Americans on average are equipped
with higher percentages of type II muscle fiber, more advanced motor
skills, height and strength; attributing these factors alone to athletic
success can be problematic. Also, attributing the high level of athletics
skill in African Americans undermines the training that they went
through in order to achieve such success. Any athlete at the
professional level, no matter their race, can attest to the intensive
amount of training and practice they had to undergo. Though certain

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people are born with favorable attributes, a vast majority of the skills
and mindset used in the sport are acquired through other factors.
In terms of biological factors, there is no doubt that certain
people are biologically favored to become high-level athletes. However
problems arise when we confuse biological favor with racial favor and
argue that certain ethnic groups are predisposed to a particular sport.
This logic flawed because there are no pure races. Due to migration,
colonization, and other interactions between groups which have
occurred throughout human history, mixed ancestry is a defining
feature of human genetics. Therefore, genetic diversity within all of the
human population is almost just as diverse as genetic diversity within a
particular ethnic group.
To understand the flaws of biological arguments regarding
athletic ability, first one must realize within group variation. For
example, two quite successful African American basketball players,
Allen Iverson and Shaquille Oneal, are undoubtly different in body
structure and skill set. While Shaquille Oneal is over 7 feet tall
weighing in at about 325 pounds while Iverson stands at just 6 feet and
165 pounds. Though these are extreme examples of the variation in
body type that occurs in the NBA, it displays that wide variety of body
structures can be present in successful players. Thus, attributes that
are often cited by those in favor of biological theories such as strength,
height, and quickness, are not sufficient to explain the racial disparity

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in the NBA. Moreover, the non-black counterparts with similar body
structures are more often than not underperform when compared to
the African American counterpart. One must also understand the
concept of evolution. Proponents of the survival of the fittest claim
that African Americans are more fit for sports like basketball because
traits were selected for during slavery, misuse Darwins concepts.
Change in gene pool due to natural selection is a long and gradual
process that takes millions of years. The physical stress put on African
Americans just a few generations ago likely will not change the genetic
pool very much. Therefore, much more than biology must be at play
considering the difference in skill between African Americans and non
African Americans.
If genetics only account for a small fraction of athletic ability,
what then are the environmental factors that more heavily influence
the

athlete?

socioeconomic

Certainly

there

differences

are

between

cultural,

environmental,

African-American

and

populations

compared to the white population in America. On average white

families earn $18,000 dollars more than African American families do.
Perhaps the most evident environmental difference between African
Americans and white groups in todays society is crime rate statistics.
Though non-Hispanic black make up roughly 12% of the total US
population, they make up about 40% in the prison population. Certainly
economic status for African Americans plays crucial role in explaining

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why certain sports are played and others arent. The accessibility of
certain resources and positions, allows those with more money to
participate in sports that require certain accommodations. Such factors
play a part in the lack of African American representation in sports
such as hockey, lacrosse, and swimming. Which either requires special
facilities, or expensive equipment to participate. For families of low
socioeconomic status these resources are not as easily accessible
when compared to middle class families. Also in inner-city areas, where
there are higher populations of African Americans, there may not be
the space for public facilities to allow for swimming or hockey. The
potential for wealth also influences the decision to play particular
sports. Even if one could afford to use public facilities, the eventual
pay-off may not be enough to commit to an investment. In sports such
as swimming, for example, athletes do not see the same financial gain
as sports such as football or basketball. Thus, there is a perceived
benefit of playing certain sports over others.
Despite these economic factors that play a large role in why
African Americans play sports like basketball as opposed to others,
there are just as significant cultural factors at play. For example, like
swimming, track is a sport that is not as financially promising as other
sports. The difference is that African Americans dominate the sport of
track running. Perhaps there is something that is culturally African
American about certain sports. This may have to do with Americas

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dark past with slavery and segregation. Even after the color line was
broken in both baseball and basketball, White owners still did not allow
black people access to their pools. In 1964, black people were mocked
and ridiculed as they protested the segregation of swimming pools as
the owner poured muriatic acid on them and police forced them out.
The legal restrictions on African Americans to enter pools likely
contribute to todays struggle for black people to enter certain sports.
Though it may not
Medias influence on the black male youth may also play a
critical role in the participation of sport. A striking statistic is that
roughly 54% of black children only live with their mother. This absence
of a father figure has significant consequences in the development of
the child. In the 1995 NBA draft, 23 of the top 30 picks did not grow up
with their father. Even in todays NBA, Lebron James and Kevin Durant,
both of whom were named league MVP in 2013 and 2014 respectively,
did not have their biological father around for much of their childhood.
Thus, as sports researcher Varda Burstyn says the missing father is
one of the key motivators for elite athletes, who try to fill the parental
void by reaching for the top of the sports world, which to them can
represent a false view of masculinity. Without the presence of a father
figure in their home lives, black youth may look to other successful
black men in order to validate themselves and give themselves hope.
Thus, as black youth are exposed to television programming displaying

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the widely acclaimed success of those in the NBA, success becomes
obtainable

in

their

eyes.

Also,

with

the

stereotype

of

underperformance of black youth in academics, they are more likely to

pursue other outlets of accomplishment. This in turn, creates a vicious
cycle in which African American youth put all of their talents in one
basket and only a select few reap the benefits.
The effects of these cultural and environmental factors are also
reflected in the structure of the NBA itself. Thus, it is worth exploring
the racial inequities between NBA players and athletic administration.
In his book Race, Sport, and the American Dream, Smith outlines the
effects of marginalized groups. He describes marginalized groups as a
result of clashing groups in which only one is able to remain dominant.
One cultural remains as the core while the other is forced to the
periphery. It is no argument that African-Americans are considered
underclass in American society and still feel the repercussions of
Americas dark past. Regardless of how their social class has changed
since the racial segregation of the early 20 th century, AfricanAmericans are still seen as socially marginalized. Though in todays
society, African Americans can achieve economic success by American
middle class standards, these achievements are overshadowed by
cultural and societal marginalization. When looking at NBA as a whole
(players, coaching staff, general managers, and owners) we can see a
that although African Americans dominate in sheer numbers, they

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often do not hold positions of political or economic power within the
association. While 80% of the players are black, just 43% of the
coaches and 2% of the owners are black. This difference in
representation at various levels outlines the marginalization of African
Americans to just certain components of the game lacking any true
control over the sport. Here we see that the NBA actually reflects race
in society and the marginalization many African Americans go through
in their real life.