Politics influenced by sports

Black sportspersons’ critical role in altering the mindset of Americans which resulted in Obama’s success.
Politics influenced by sports

The cross-over appeal of sport

Born to a Kenyan father and Kansan mother, he will lead a country that, only five decades ago, could not guarantee citizens of his genetic description basic human rights.

Barack Obama is where he is today because he has the power to unite, motivate and inspire people. True. And yet, taking that simplistic view alone would be an inflexible and incomplete understanding of his success.

Sport might seem inconsequential in comparison to political developments that have paved the path for a black man to enter the White House, yet sport, with its cross- over appeal, has undoubtedly played a critical role in altering the mindset of Americans.

For many white Americans, the first and most significant link, even if from a distance, with African- Americans is through black athletes and their sustained eminence on the basketball court, the baseball diamond, the football pitch, the tennis court, the boxing ring, the athletics track and the golfing green. Simultaneously, African-Americans have always taken pride in black sporting heroes, elevated them to role models, and derived inspiration from the belief that, given the opportunity, they too can succeed.

Sport, perhaps the closest that society has come to a public and objective measure of worth, is not a passive reflection of evolution but an active driver of change.

Which is why even the most superficial deliberation on the progress of black advancement in the US must perforce acknowledge the contributions of African-American sportspersons who answer to the names Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, Rafer Johnson, Muhammad Ali, Althea Gibson,Arthur Ashe,Carl Lewis,Michael Jordan,Venus and Serena Williams and Tiger Woods.

It don’t matter if you’re black or white

Forty years after athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloves and fists in a silent gesture to protest racial inequality and represent black power and liberation at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall pulled out a black-and-white glove from his NFL uniform pants after making an 11- yard touchdown catch against the Cleveland Browns.

This gesture was supposed to be his tribute to a symbol of unity, his salute to the racial progress of America’s multicultural society. Marshall was a historic moment away from becoming the first athlete to publicly honour US president-elect Barack Obama.

And then, time was forced to stand still.

Teammate Brandon Stokley ran up to Marshall with a wagging finger and restraining embrace. Marshall's gesture could have sparked controversy and cost his team a penalty and, possibly, the game.This gesture, this social statement, was halted.

But a beginning has been made. Correction: a beginning was made years ago. As early as the late 1960s, the starting line-up for NBA team Boston Celtics was entirely black. In 2008, three-quarters of US basketball major leaguers are black and a majority of players in the National Football League (NFL) are African-American.

Nonetheless, pinpointing the exact moment when White America's attitude shifted from simply watching African-Americans sportspersons perform to active support for a greater cause would be difficult as the evolution of the black athlete and his/her acceptance across the spectrum has been a gradual process. Moreover, this process is far from reaching completion for, despite the progress made, the threat posed by race as a divisive force continues to exist.

Nonetheless, a barrier has been broken. Sixty-two years after the US had separate baseball leagues for blacks and whites, the election of Barack Obama as president- elect seemingly indicates that Americans have embraced change they believe in.

here’s how it begins

1936: A black American destroys the myth of Aryan racial supremacy by winning four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics but is not considered worthy enough by either Adolf Hitler or Franklin D Roosevelt for them to shake his hand.

Forty-four years later, at his funeral in April 1980, white Americans acknowledge the worth of Jesse Owens and, in many ways, bury the word ‘nigger’. Maybe, this acknowledgement has played its part in Barack Obama holding his head high today.

1960: A disillusioned Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr throws the boxing gold medal he has won at the Rome Olympics into the Ohio River after being refused service at a ‘whitesonly’ restaurant. Subsequently, he not only announces that he ‘floats like a butterfly’ and ‘stings like a bee’, but also labels himself ‘The Greatest’. Once detested by millions of Americans, he forces the tide to turn with the power of his unapologetic self-worth and ambition and lives up to that claim.

Forty-eight years later, Muhammad Ali, perhaps, forced America to accept Barack Obama.

1982: A young black man from New York slam-dunks a last-gasp shot to hand the University of North Carolina victory in the NCAA final against Georgetown.

Twenty-six years later, the memory of Michael ‘Air’ Jordan, the most famous name yet in the National Basketball Association (NBA), could well have been reverberating through the minds of North Carolinians when they voted in favour of Barack Obama.

1997: On a Sunday morning on the lawn behind the clubhouse at the Augusta National, former champions, current players and club members, most of them white, watch in wonder as a lithe figure uncoils in the shade of the oak tree alongside the first tee to send the ball across the horizon.

Eleven years later, for reasons mostly intuitive but nonetheless tangible, Tiger Woods possibly helped those people believe that if he could, so could Barack Obama.

siddharthamishra@epmltd.com

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