Speaker highlights sport’s slow adoption of social change – The Rider News

By Caroline Haviland

Kevin Blackistone stood before a crowd on Oct. 17 as students sat ready to hear his remarks about the pervasiveness of sports in culture and how, contrary to popular belief, it is not the engine of social change that many believe it to be hold.

“We have long championed the idea that sport is at the forefront of social change. That’s not necessarily true,” Blackistone said.

Above him hung a projector screen with the words “The Myth of Sports and the Myth-Making of Sports Journalism.”

Blackistone has spent his entire professional life studying this topic and observing it during his childhood. He grew up a fan of the Washington NFL team, which recently changed its culturally insensitive name.

Owen McCarron, a junior radio and podcasting major, introduced Blackistone at the event.

“As the sport continues to grow and so does the world, it is crucial to keep a cool head and stay informed about issues that are more important than who bought off the referees and why Jets can never win a Super Bowl,” McCarron said.

Blackistone, an award-winning Washington Post sports columnist, ESPN panelist and professor at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, came to Rider to “demystify” the narrative told in sports journalism.

The story begins with a well-known name in the sports world: Jackie Robinson.

“America’s Pastime”

Baseball has celebrated Robinson as a central point in desegregation in the United States. His jersey number, 42, was retired by the MLB in 1997, and April 15 was designated Jackie Robinson Day. What the sports media left out of this basic story, according to Blackistone, is what happened to “the Jackie Robinsons before.”

Before Robinson took over, Moses Fleetwood Walker joined the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1883 as the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. Blackistone said Walker’s participation was met with opposition from an influential figure in 19th-century baseball, Cap Anson, whose protest “set the color line” that many continued to adhere to decades later.

“We, the media, told you that Robinson was the first black man to play Major League Baseball, and we, the media, rarely, if ever, tell you the story about Fleetwood Walker and Cap Anson,” Blackistone said. “America’s pastime is watching a game where only white men are allowed. One of the most wonderful script twists in history.”

Robinson’s integration in 1947 was part of a series of events from the civil rights movement of the 1940s. His story reinforces the idea that the sport has been a slacker rather than a leader in racial justice.

“Embellished” journalism

Sports journalism in the United States began in 1819 with the American Farmer Magazine, the first magazine dedicated to sports. The publication sparked numerous other publications over the next 15 years, all owned and operated by white men.

“This laid the racist roots for sports journalism in the United States,” Blackistone said, “which consists primarily of white men and continues to interpret the achievements of black athletes.”

Blackistone provided an example of how sportswriters supported racist stereotypes based on a study conducted in the second half of the 20th century. Black athletes were perceived in the media for their natural athletic abilities, such as Michael Jordan, who was praised for his “athleticism,” while white athletes were described for their intelligence, such as Larry Bird for his “brilliant plays.”

Racial injustice in sports can be seen beyond discrimination against players. The appropriation of native culture and imagery for team names, mascots and logos has been “whitewashed” in sports more than any other part of society, Blackistone said, such as the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL and the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL.

“You can’t talk about systemic racism in this country without understanding what happened to the indigenous people here afterwards [Columbus] “has touched these shores,” said Blackistone. “Sports washing didn’t start with golf. It’s been around for a long time.”