African Americans in Sport and Media

      In a passage from our class book, Michael Messner writes about interviews he has had with men fromvarying ethnicities, socioeconomic status, and ages.  One interviewee describes the only career choices as an African American male as either an athlete or a drug dealer, conversely, a white interviewee described a career in athletics as “pissing in the wind.” Even since the mid 1980s when this data was collected, do these thought processes still generally hold true or has our society evolved since then?

Also even now in 2013 we constantly hear stories of African American athletes as coming from nothing, escaping the old neighborhood, and other against all odds stories, are these stories simply easier to perpetuate in the media and there are infinitely more opportunities than when the above interview was conducted? Or are these stories perpetuated in the media simply the only success stories?

Ryan Polanco

LT 24