Double standards between black athletes and white athletes in professional sports are very prevalent in today's society. These double standards always seem to work to where the black athletes are perceived as the enemy and the white athletes have been perceived to have done a good deed. This trend has been spread across a variety of professional sports today. Carolina Panthers quarterback, Cam Newton, stated that he feels as if his blackness leads to the negative perceptions that are formed about him. There has been a long history to where black athletes are often criticized for having characteristics that whites are usually given glory for. These way that people view these characteristics is so strong that it tends to persuade those to believe that these people are the same people some characterize them to be. Black athletes extreme level of confidence is perceived to be an extreme level of cockiness. Their aggressive action in response to something not going their way is seen as them losing their sense of control. One other often seen perception is that a black athlete's expression of emotion after losing a game is seen as them being weak or immature. In reality, none of these common perceptions actually turn out to be accurate. Cam Newton usually takes a lot of heat for getting "heated" on the sidelines when something doesn't go as planned, when in reality, Newton is passionate about the game that he plays and uses this passion to correct his past mistakes. New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, was seen doing almost the exact same gestures,but the media gave a completely different outlook on Brady's situation. The media praised Tom Brady and stated that these gestures displayed his passion for the game which is what makes him one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game. This only leads you to believe that there is a possibility that there are a number of black athletes who may have been equal too if not better than a lot of the top white players in history. These black players were never given recognition do to the fact that the white athletes were never criticized to a point to where they were set up for failure. A number of these black athletes state that in their life they were always told that if they wanted to succeed in life, they would have to work 10 times harder than everyone else. This had to be done because of the criticism these black athletes were and are receiving.
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Rod Thornton
Rod, this is something I think we both have experienced as black athletes. I think what you're saying is important, because it is true that black athletes, especially in leadership positions like quarterback are held to a higher standard than white players.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your argument. It reminds me of the Netflix show "Last Chance U" where athletes are given a second chance to play Division I football. If you watch the show you would notice that all of the highlighted athletes are Black, except one from last season. Their past misdeeds (mainly criminal offenses) are often mentioned as well as their bad tempers and attitudes. Their worst qualities are often shown; very few positive things are mentioned about them. Isaiah Wright, one of the star players on the first and second season was often shown swearing and being angry after messing up a play. The coaches see him like this but fail to understand why he is behaving the way he is. Afterwards, we hear him say how he's just passionate about the game and how he just only wants to play. I wonder if Black athletes are shown, despite there obviously being White people on the team, because they are better athletes or because it is good for ratings (showing how they conform to people's stereotypes)?
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