By: Tim Hicks
We as human beings do certain things better than others, especially in sports. Generations throughout the sporting world were predominately white racially, that was until the late 19th and 20th centuries when the perceptions of minorities, especially blacks, where that they contained a stronger body hat withstand more trauma than whites. That abled them to do amazing things and endure more pain. It is also said that blacks had the instinct of an animal that led to their success in sports. This could be determined as African-Americans are more "hungry" for the success that comes with being an athlete, whereas White athletes are starting to diminish because of the fact that they are being outshined and outworked by the African Americans.
In society today, even in media and movies, the stereotype is that African-Americans are supposed to excel in Sports, especially Football and Basketball. As children, they are taught to passionately use it to make a better future for themselves. Being that they didn't grow up with the same things the White kids have, they feel the need to work harder to even get noticed because at the end of the day, someone is always out there better than them, which were the White race. People were often criticized on decisions that they made to have an better or equal opportunity as the white children. For Example, NBA Player LeBron James, before he was in high school he and his AAU basketball teammates chose to go to the "Our decision to go to a predominately white Catholic school drew heavy criticism from Akron's black community...." said James
Scientists try to hypothesise that African-Americans have a gene that gives the the ability to jump high. I guess thats the reason why they say "White Men cant Jump." They also believe they have genes that make them stronger and faster. Below is a video of LeBron James using his "Inhuman Vertical" to get a overthrown basketball.
We as human beings do certain things better than others, especially in sports. Generations throughout the sporting world were predominately white racially, that was until the late 19th and 20th centuries when the perceptions of minorities, especially blacks, where that they contained a stronger body hat withstand more trauma than whites. That abled them to do amazing things and endure more pain. It is also said that blacks had the instinct of an animal that led to their success in sports. This could be determined as African-Americans are more "hungry" for the success that comes with being an athlete, whereas White athletes are starting to diminish because of the fact that they are being outshined and outworked by the African Americans.
In society today, even in media and movies, the stereotype is that African-Americans are supposed to excel in Sports, especially Football and Basketball. As children, they are taught to passionately use it to make a better future for themselves. Being that they didn't grow up with the same things the White kids have, they feel the need to work harder to even get noticed because at the end of the day, someone is always out there better than them, which were the White race. People were often criticized on decisions that they made to have an better or equal opportunity as the white children. For Example, NBA Player LeBron James, before he was in high school he and his AAU basketball teammates chose to go to the "Our decision to go to a predominately white Catholic school drew heavy criticism from Akron's black community...." said James
Scientists try to hypothesise that African-Americans have a gene that gives the the ability to jump high. I guess thats the reason why they say "White Men cant Jump." They also believe they have genes that make them stronger and faster. Below is a video of LeBron James using his "Inhuman Vertical" to get a overthrown basketball.
My Last point that in basketball, which has become predominately black, the best player to ever play the game is said to be Michael Jordan, but the NBA logo is Jerry West. So it has become debatable that Jordan is worthy enoough to be the best ever, but is not worthy enough to be the NBA logo. Is it because of his race/ethnicity? Besides that, Jordan has revolutionized the game of basketball, just like the black quarterback, i.e. Michael Vick, has revolutinonalized the game of football being that they can run and throw, unlike the traditional white quarterback who can only throw. It shouldnt be because of race or ethnicity that the face of an organization can be chosen. It should be how they impacted the industry and company.
In Conlusion, stereotypically Blacks have to work harder than most to get where they want to go in life, even tho the United States claims to be an Equal Opportunity country. I guess I better pick up a basketball, and start training huh.
I definitely have to agree with your argument that the face or logo of an organization should not be based on any type of ethnicity or race. I've actually never heard the idea that black and white bodies were different in terms of how much trauma one can or cannot endure so that was kind of interesting for me to read. Its amazing to me how we are all biologically human, the only differences being skin color, and people come up with the crazy perceptions that white is better than black, black is stronger than white, etc. I think your video and examples of basketball and football effectively illustrated your point that black athletes are becoming more common because of various perceptions of the African American race. However, when you consider sports such as hockey, there are seemingly less black athletes. Perhaps if you mentioned this you could have proved that stereotypes about black athletes aren't always correct. Overall I thought the blog definitely brought attention to a lot of the stereotypes that people have about black athletes and it really further built on some of the topics we talked about in class.
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