Racism in football: Americas media delima
Shunned, black balled, and kicked to the curb these are all term that describe the treatment of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a professional football player that once lit up highlight reels and score boards but now had been relegated to a position as a martyr in the battle against racial injustice the United States continues to fight. I can recall Kaepernick and his highlights being shown all over social media along with the internet trend that was birthed from the same vein as the ever-popular Tebow pose called “Kaepernicking”. The pose consisted Kaepernick kissing your own bicep in celebration of touchdowns, just as Tebow did with his kneel only with the added benefit of being cool because Kaepernick had tattoos. This was popular because of Kaepernick’s infamous appearance and demeanor being far removed from the stereotypical quarterback look of the time with attributes like tattoos and a tendency to act a bit more braggadocios than many of his contemporaries giving him status and popularity with those who looked up to him. However he did not get to were he was without the thing that gave him fame in the first place, his excellent play on the football field which gave him consideration for the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player award as well as an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. It would seem that Kaepernick had everything that one could ever wish for money, fame, and good health however there would soon be a problem in what seemed to be the perfect world for the football star.
Colin Kaepernick and fellow 49ers player Eric Reid take knee for the national anthem
Lets take a look deeper into what it is that members of the white dominated sports media do in order to demean and dehumanize minority athletes. To do this I will use examples of this from multiple sources like Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and others. I will also recall issues from the past which have eerily similar feelings and discourse to the issues that we still deal with in this form of media to this day. In order to do this we must look to the past to understand where we have come from in terms of the progression of racial equality.
Jimmy Snyder was an American sports broadcaster who was born as Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos on September 9th, 1918 in Steubenville, Ohio. He would lay his original claim to fame after making a bet on the results of the United States Presidential race between incumbent Harry S. Truman and the Republicans candidate Thomas E. Dewey. That bet was made over ten thousand dollars and he was given 17 to 1 odds that Truman would be elected. He sighted his reasoning for picking Truman as being because “American women didn't trust men with a mustache”. Though this may seem to be reasonable for this statement to be made, after all it did lead to Snyder winning his bet it is misogynistic comments like these which work to divide men and women as opposed to working together to create a better more equal future. Comments like this would lead to no backlash early in Snyder’s career however these would serve as foreshadowing for what was to come.
In 1976 Snyder would take a job as a National Football League reported and commentator with Columbia Broadcasting Service or CBS where he would mainly serve as a consultant for the betting score spreads during the live broadcast. It was at this job where he would finally be held accountable for his jaded and racially insensitive views. During a interview broadcast of January 15, 1988 Snyder would make a series of comments about white and black people in sports which both showed bigotry and Snyder’s thought which had their roots in white supremacy. The interview in question features quotes which are both uncomfortable, and packed with innuendos insinuating that white people still have some type of natural advantage over black people. Quotes from the interview in question are a haunting reminder of the bias that lives in the American conscious not to mention the fact that these came from a well established TV personality.
"They've {blacks} got everything; if they take over coaching like everybody wants them to, there's not going to be anything left for white people.” Quotes like this serve as a way for white people to continually put their needs and concerns before that of black peoples. This also simultaneously and somewhat subliminally claims that white people are more intelligent than Blacks people by suggesting that white people have their place as the coaches and administrators of the game while black people are best suited to do the physical part of sports. Biases and suggestions like these draw some eerily similar comparisons to that of the United States former slave industry’s dynamic by alluding to the dynamic where the slave owner or “Master” controls the slaves by telling them what to do and how to do it, just as a coach does in the sport of football.
"This all goes back to the Civil War, when, during the slave trading, the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he would have a big black kid. That's where it all started.” This quote from the same Jimmy Snyder interview shows much more blatant racism than the first, skipping the subtle nods to the racist past of the United States in favor of a much clearer picture of bigotry. Claiming that black people were at some kind of genetic advantage based on the systematic breeding of human beings that took place in the United States both acts to dehumanize and to give credit to white people for the success that black people who in many cases had to work infinitely harder than their white counterparts to attain have had. The dehumanization aspect acts to paint a picture which says that white and black people are separate excluding black people from the collective group and deem them as some kind of sub-human beings. As for taking credit when a black person achieves success it goes hand and hand with the comments earlier about coaching in the National Football League, it is based on an assumption that white people are somehow better apt to teach things while black people simply execute them. This quote in context with the rest of the interview gestures that white people are the great masterminds behind all of life as we see it and that there is proof of this sighting examples like how a white coach may teach a black safety in football to read an offense and intercept a ball and how white plantation owners would purposefully breed human beings as livestock in order to obtain the best offspring to pad his wallet.
The next day after these comments were made Jimmy Snyder was fired from CBS due to the backlash from the American public never to return to the grid iron as a broadcaster. Jimmy would die April 21, 1996 but his racial bias and bigoted opinions would not leave the world with him. These outdated and unacceptable ways of thinking still live on today though on a much greater scale than that of the past due to the outlets that not only reporters and broadcasters have access to but all people who have a device able to connect and a password at least 8 characters long containing at least one number and a special symbol.
With the advent of the internet people have now been exposed to infinite forms of new mediums to interact with people and the world around them. The introduction of the internet gave those who may not have had a platform to speak in front of people just that, a place where they could spread their opinions without the added benefit of TV censorship or personal image managers and consultants. This has led to a blatant disregard for other peoples viewpoints and cultures in the form of people posting hurtful or insensitive content directly on their personal feed for all of their followers to see and from the comment sections of other peoples post being ransacked by internet trolls. This is the newest form a media personality, one that doesn’t require any type of credential or let alone a qualification like a degree in higher education or even a high school diploma. Because there are no barriers to entry for these people aside from a wifi connection many people who would not be given the opportunity to talk for people based on other’s knowledge of their biases, temper, and overall demeanor are given access to a social media personality and the ability to quickly spread influence by reaching whatever following that they may be able to cultivate on that program. Though it may seem like a nice thing to let everyone have a place where they can express themselves for all those who would like to listen it is actually dangerous to the social fiber of America where there is never a shortage of hate speech coming in many forms include Homophobia, Sexism & Misogyny, and of course Racism.
The sports media market is growing at record heights never seen before because of the introduction of social media into the general public. Everyday more and more accounts are made on social media and with this ever growing base for influence so do the about of people wanting to tap into this market. This has led companies who already had share in the market of sports media to not only start but rapidly expand their spheres of influence on their social media platforms while simultaneously allowing new companies and individuals the opportunity to strike it big as sports commentators, broadcasters, and journalist. Though this has given more people an outlet to attain their dream job such as Zac Shomler of Strong Opinion Sports it has also contributed to millions of people lambasting athletes with racial slurs directly. Far removed we are from the days when a professional athlete had the veal of a locker room or the relative comfort of a moderated press room where for the most part the racism was at least not as direct. Now athletes are constantly attacked based on their skin by a twenty-four hour three hundred sixty five day media source which conveniently fits all in their pocket and has a new model every fall.
It is important to remember that all different types of media outlets have different crowds that they are trying to appeal to. This is the same with social media sites, they all have special niches which appeal to different types of people. Because of this all different types of social platforms will have different reactions in the comment section. It is no secret that the comment section can be a cold and harsh place where people can hide behind what is in their profile picture and spout whatever kind of bombastic speech that they want solely for the purpose of putting whoever or whatever is the focus down. This is the exact reaction that I was interested in finding which serves to push narratives forward whether that be in the form of personal narratives like some type of odd habit that someone may have or in the form of aggression towards someones race.
I personally chose to avoid what I have described as personal trolling narratives in my research as to pay attention to the systematic issue that serves to attack more than just the one person. This is not to say that internet trolling in a personal narrative format is good for society or even acceptable but as anyone who has ever accomplished anything can attest to people who are jealous will attack you for your personal flaws in order to tear you down to make up for their own personal insecurities. Due to the nature of the personal narrative troll it is not something that can be narrowed down. Many times the tendencies of these trolls are completely different for different people because they are attacking certain individuals rather than a group, hence why I believe that the nature of the Racial narratives are more detrimental to society and humanity than narratives such as Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs voice being compared to that of one kermit the frog.
My focus was based on already fairly hot buttoned topics post and their comment sections. To do this I analyzed comment sections from post involving an incident at a Nation Football League game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans on September 10, 2020. Though it was a highly anticipated matchup between the reigning Super Bowl Champion Cheifs led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes II and the Texans who had their own star at the quarterback position in Deshaun Watson the entire game was overshadowed by the events that preceded it. Prior to the kickoff all players for both teams stood in the middle of the field to show unity between all people within the United States. This was part of the National Football League’s attempt to aid in the ongoing human rights battle being waged on the streets, screens, in schools, and countless other places for the equal treatment of black people after a summer jam packed full of cries for help and protest unlike anything the country had seen before. This demonstration was seen differently by everyone based on all types of factors like location, class, race, and countless others. This has led me to beg the question, how do different groups respond to similar post own the comment section based on the social media platform that they are using.
To start I will be looking at a blog post from a popular Fox Sports sports journalist , Jason Whitlock. Whitlock is a bit of an outlier in the African American community as he has repeatedly condemned the ever popular social movement Black Lives Matter and the way that it goes about spreading its message. In this article he did much of the same that he had done in the past. There is even a quote from this article that reads “Black Lives Matter is toxic and divisive” loud and clear in the very beginning of the piece. The article goes on to claim Black Lives Matter is a radicle marxist group who uses the disguise as a social justice group to brainwash the American people and turn all those who have spheres of influence into ambassador for the movement. Fitting this guy now works for fox news, huh? In the end he claims that Black Lives Matter wished that is could have the type of unifying power that football, particularly the Nation Football League’s presentation of football does.
Although these are shocking and profound comments to hear from an African American man it must be taken into account that this is just one person who cannot singularly represent a group of people. Yet it would seem as though he does if you were to unknowingly look at this comment section. I will be highlighting a few of these comments which I feel are divisive which I feel truly embody the spirit that is systemic racism. The first comment that I want to evaluate is one from a person named Bill King. In this comment he wrote “I love this current team, but my biggest fear is that Patrick Mahomes might go “full LaBron” on the BLM/SJW thing. So far at least, he has shown a heck of a lot more savvy and self-awareness than the knuckleheads charged with leading the NFL.” Disregarding the blatant disrespect to Lebron James based on the way they misspelled his name in this comments it works to downplay the significants that Black Lives Matter has on the world and how bad the issue is. The comment was responded to as well with another that notes “You can relax, Mahomes is 10x the man Lebron ever will be. Patrick was raised by outstanding parents and is a very smart young man capable of thinking for himself.” Think about that last phrase. This phrase alludes to some type of world where the type of person you are is completely based on the family that you were raised in. It also works to suggest that simply because Lebron James was raised by a single mother and not in a stable two parent home he is less of a man or in the words of the commenter exactly one-tenth of the man that Mahomes is.
Another quote form the same comment section simply states that Black Lives Matter was equal to the Ku Klux Klan. Though there can be comparisons drawn between these two groups (as you could do with any group) this is simply a racially charged aggressive response to a viewpoint that runs contrary to the original commenters viewpoint. I personally don’t see a need nor do I believe it is appropriate to compare Black Lives Matter, a social movement with no existing governing body who’s worst alleged offense was stealing from store through looting to a organized group with a governing body that has a history in murdering people simply based off of the color of their skin.
Though the comment section of a right wing sports journalist from Fox News may not be the most objective place to obtain comments it is a form of media and is considered the news of the homeland for much of the countries population. But now I will switch to the youtube adaptation of this story posted by YouTuber Nowthis News. This story paints a much darker picture of the event, with multiple player testimonies noting that they felt the booing was an interruption of a beautiful moment they simply ask why the fans felt that is was not only appropriate to boo during the moment of silence but necessary. Though this example of media was more in favor of the players who wished to stand together to show unity the comment section again showed much of the same disregard for the causes that athletes are trying to bring into public light usually sighting a reason like the wealth and success of the athletes as a reason to stop fighting. This however is exactly the type of lazy example that these athletes are trying to put a stop to many times opting to invest in lower income areas to give underprivileged kids the luxuries that would otherwise never be afforded to them in conjunction with continuing to fight for racial equality through protest and boycotts.
“Ahaha! They were 'speaking up' for the man with four warrants out for his arrest reaching for a gun after being tazed and putting his family in danger.” This quote comes form a YouTube comment section of a video relating to the same topic as Whitlock’s however this post was originally more sympathetic towards the players that were speaking out. Though he is unnamed it is clear that they are making a reference to the murder of George Floyd, a black man who’s face became the poster for racial injustice and police brutality in the COVID summer of 2020. I make this designation in time because it acts to give context. Due to the events of the Covid-19 pandemic more people were at home and frustrated than ever. The homes that Americans were forced to quarantine in served as pressure cookers for feelings of both pain and anger which would boil over in a fashion which draws many comparisons to the Civil Rights movement of the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. Again I will reiterate that all of these protest were spearhead and given a brand to unite under, that brand was the face of the late George Floyd. Floyd was a 46 year old man who allegedly bought cigarettes with a counterfeit twenty dollar bill and because of this minor offense he was slain in the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota in a now infamous video where the police officer Derek Chauvin kneels on Floyd’s neck seven minutes and forty-eight seconds without a pause. Along with the prolonged pressure that was applied to his neck Floyd was also told to be quiet and given no medical attention by any of the three officers present on the scene. Now that we have this context let’s take a second to look at the quote again. Through the informed lens this quote is not only insensitive but also works to blame George Floyd for his killing rather than holding those who were responsible for the death of this man accountable.
When I found the comment section of Facebook I was pleasantly surprised. Being that a lot of the experience that I have with Facebook revolves around older people with more socially ridged views than mine I would not expect Facebook users to be pro advancement and anti bigotry. However my expectations were jaded as I was mistaken as the Facebook comment section was the most welcoming and supportive of all three social media outlets on average. In a comment on the Facebook a message was sent “Translation: Shut up and play football. You don’t get paid to think or feel.” This quote was in this place as a way of mocking the idea that football players should simply put on their helmet every Sunday and trot onto a field where they risk limb and even life for the game that they play. It also mocks the idea that suggest players in the National Football League get paid too much to complain and speak out about issues that plague them and their race in their daily lives. Though this person was using these comments as a way to bolster support for the social movement within the National Football League taken out of context this quote would serve one of the more shameful factions of people within the United States. That shameful faction in question is both white people who enjoy greater freedoms than those of their minority counterpart and minorities who sit complacent and comfortable in their place as white people dominate the world around them.
Moving to twitter we will take a look at the comment section of David Hookstead’s tweet in reference to the 2020 season opener. With his tweet he added a video which shows what the experience was like to be at the center of the event. Taking a look at these comments I was surprised that these were by far the most diverse responses throughout all my research. These comments had people from both extremes of the political and social hotbeds within the United States clambering for the ability to say that they are right. I found this one to be a surprise as well as believing that the comments within the Twitter world would highly favor the left and progressive goals of the left. This however would prove to not be the case based on the fact that the sampling that I did seemed to suggest that there was just as much support in the comment section for ideals on the conservative right and the liberal left.
Sports media is and always has been filled with racist and insensitive people who report on others without a regard for the color of the other persons skin. Though it is documented that sports broadcaster’s have been caught being racist in the past this is not an issue which died with other outdated practices of the past rather it adapted as there has never been this record high amount of people in the industry and therefore leading to a more widespread and dangerous trap for our society to fall into. The invention of smartphones gave way to flocks of new pocket journalist gaining the ability to force their way into an industry without the need for a resume, interview, or even credentials of any kind. This new widespread ability has led to countless account of racism and bigotry throughout the sphere that is sports media. Athletes such as Colin Kaepernick received criticism for their protest in the form of racial slurs and many other phrases and words in large part from this group of hobby journalist.
In conclusion the world of sports media has been ransacked by newcomers wanting to spread their influence through forms of influence. These influencers come from far and wide. Some of these people come from the political left and some from the political right and neither believes that they have the ability to be detrimental to society. After reviewing comments form multiple different sources I can deduce that when analyzing similar social media post on different forms of media there are different tendencies for each group. On personal blogs the comment sections tend to follow suit with what the main authors viewpoint is while comment sections on Youtube had a tendency to be more right wing and conservative. Comment sections were shockingly liberal on the facebook post and twitter was packed full of a hodge podge of viewpoints with no clear dominating political ideology dominating the comment section.
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