Sports and Activism

by Grace A. ‘21

Televised sports are a quintessential part of American culture and one of the most uniting and well loved pastimes in our country. Their massive popularity creates a vast and influential platform that can be utilized to promote important causes and social issues. However, many believe that these issues shouldn’t have a place in sports, and that sports should be solely reserved for escapist entertainment. Despite this American belief, protesting and activism have actually been played a role in athletics  fo about as long as they have been around in America, beginning with black athletes violating racial norms by playing for white teams, and has advanced throughout the years to displays of kneeling during the national anthem to raise awareness for the unfair treatment of black people in American. Despite your political beliefs, it is undisputed that professional sports can be one of the most powerful means of change in our country.

One of the most dire social injustices our country faces currently is police brutality and racial profiling against black Americans. This issue has a large impact on professional sports, as many of the greatest athletes in our country are African American. With the recent revival of the Black Lives Matter due to the death of George Floyd and other incidents of police brutality, more professional athletes have utilized their platform to spread awareness and help the movement than ever before. However, it is important to note the many attempts to advance this cause before June; many of which were condemned by sports viewers and frowned upon by sports networks like the NFL. One of the most iconic examples of civil disobedience in sports is Colin Kapernick, a football player for the San Francisco 49’s, who chose to kneel during the national anthem in protest of the treatment of black people in America. This demonstration was highly contended, with many other athletes choosing to support Kapernick and kneel with him, yet many others felt that his display was disrespectful to the flag and those who fought for it. Further, many viewers felt that politics shouldn’t have a place in televised sports at all, as it was used as a distraction from the world’s problems for them. As a result of Kapernick’s demonstrations, he was let go from his team and condemned by the NFL commissioner as being “unpatriotic.” In 2018, the NFL announced a new rule against kneeling during the national anthem. Athletes were given the option to stay in the locker room instead, but were no longer given the opportunity to publicly protest.

Currently, support for the Black Lives Matter movement is stronger than ever, including in professional sports. Examples of current professional athletes using their platforms to support the movement include Los Angeles Clippers’ Paul George, who devoted his entire press conference to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was wrongly killed by the police, NFL players will be wearing jerseys with the initials of victims who have been killed by police brutality, and the MLB announced that it will be donating one million dollars to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Equal Justice Initiative, the Color Of Change and the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Additionally, the NFL sent out a statement in support of BLM, but were criticized for the hypocrisy due to their lack of support previously. Sports are a great platform for activism, but there it can be utilized even further to create genuine change in areas of injustice.