The quiet but effective way Kaepernick has created the take a knee movement would resonate with the baseball legend whose brilliance helped combat the terrible racism he encountered in the 1940s and 50sWhen Time magazine conducted a poll in 1947 with the aim of identifying the most popular person in the United States, Bing Crosby came out on top. Close behind was Jackie Robinson, the baseball player who, earlier in the year, had become the first African American to compete in the major leagues. Not everyone had cheered that seismic event. Some teams threatened to strike rather than play against a team including Robinson. Individual opponents greeted his appearance on the field with shouts of “Hey, nigger, why don’t you...
Players such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays helped shape baseball, and America. So why has the number of black players halved since the 1980s?In 1954, a young black man from Alabama, Willie Mays, took New York and then America by storm. A centerfielder for the New York Giants, he won the 1954 National League MVP and led his team to victory in the World Series, making a catch along the way that became arguably the most famous play in baseball history. But Mays was more than the game’s best player: he became became America’s most popular athlete, especially in the African American community. That popularity was famously captured as he played stick ball with kids on the streets of...
In an uncertain era, the success of Venus and Serena tells a story of the greatness that already exists in the United StatesIt was to be Serena’s day. But the impact of an all-Williams final at the Australian Open cannot be overstated.Before Serena’s victory over Venus in Melbourne, the 23rd major title of her glittering career, the last time the two sisters went head-to-head in a grand slam final was at Wimbledon in 2009. Serena bested Venus in a tough two-set match. At the time, the sisters had won multiple titles in their already storied careers, which began with family practice sessions on the dilapidated courts of Compton. Related: It’s not all bad news – we’ve got Venus, Serena, Roger...
The shooting of the former NFL player at the age of 28 synopsizes America’s feelings about black men and women – and the families they leave behindBirthday parties for babies tend to be more for the adults present than the actual baby celebrated, and my daughter’s first birthday party — which, due to rush of people who happened to be in town Thanksgiving weekend, was pushed up to the Saturday after Thanksgiving (the 26th) instead of her actual birthday (the 30th) — was no different. I doubt she gave much of a damn about the grade of barbecue sauce purchased with the tray of boneless chicken wings or the fancy new Pack ‘n Play her grandmother bought her. And I...
For too long, the league was interested in making itself palatable for a white audience. Under Adam Silver it is listening to its black playersIf there is one thing clear about the current NBA, it is that it is no longer the league of David Stern. As a businessman, the league’s former commissioner was a visionary, building a booming operation that now reaches around the globe. But on social issues he stumbled, creating policies that almost seemed designed to make a league of mostly African American players appear palatable to a white audience.It was Stern, after all, who 11 years ago created professional sports’ first sideline dress code that he called “business casual”. It came at a time when a phrase thrown...