The Ural Mountains are about the same age as the Appalachian mount.docx

The Ural Mountains are about the same age as the Appalachian
mountains of eastern North America. How does the theory of
plate tectonics explain the existence of this mountain belt in the
interior of an expansive continental landmass? Compare and
contrast the formation of the Ural and Appalachian mountains,
given their similar age.
Response needs be at least 200 in length with all work cited.
"Black Fists and Fool's Gold:
The 1960s Black Athletic Revolt Reconsidered"
The LeBron James Decision and
Self-Determination in Post-Racial America
by Jamal L. Ratchford
TIMES sure have changed. Forty years aftercritics blasted two
athletes' silent protest
at the 1968 Olympics — when they flung
their tightened black-gloved fists into the
Mexico City evening sky in the Black Power
salute to call attention to human rights con-
cerns and received a chorus of boos'—white
journalists, spectators, athletes and adminis-
trators honored Tommie Smith and John
Carlos at the Excellence in Sports Perfor-
mance Yearly (ESPY) Awards. In 2008, the
Entertainment Sports Programming Net-

work (ESPN) held their annual gala at the
Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Numerous
sports and entertainment dignitaries attend-
ed and celebrated the apex of athletic
accomplishments. Singer and actor Justin
Timberlake entertained the audience and
hosted the sports premier award show. The
evening is normally a jovial and lighthearted
attempt to recapture the best athletic
achievements from the calendar year. Tim-
berlake's comedie opening remarks featured
song and dance, and also brought laughter
to the audience at the expense of National
Football League (NFL) stars Brett Favre and
Eli Manning, and member of the reigning
National Basketball Association (NBA),
champion Paul Pierce.
The awarding of Arthur Ashe Award for
Courage, an honor presented to persons
who made the most significant humanitarian
contribution to sports and society, shifted
the playful tone to a serious and reflective
remembrance of a historical moment. Actor
Samuel L. Jackson and NBA All-Star and two-
time Most Valuable Player Steve Nash gave
the preliminary remarks and introduced the
awardees. Jackson said the silent protest
remained fresh in his mind. 1968, he
recalled, "may have been forty years ago but
for many of us, like me, a nineteen-year-old
student at Morehouse College at the time,
the events were so vivid, so personal that they
could have occurred yesterday."^

THE CEREMONIES continued with actor TomCruise narrating
a nine-minute clip that
documented events leading up to the silent
protest. When the film concluded, Tommie
Smith and John Carlos were introduced and
received the Arthur Ashe award. The audi-
ence erupted and gave a standing ovation. A
racially and politically diverse crowd that
included auto racer Dánica Patrick, NFL all-
time great Jerry Rice, and internationally
renowned English soccer star David Beck-
ham unanimously rose and cheered the two
men. The two men gave another raised fist
salute in appreciation of the audience. At
the microphone. Smith spoke of sacrifice
and Carlos reminded current athletes to use
sports as a vehicle for social change. ESPN
recognized them three years after San Jose
State (SJS), their alma mater, erected a
statute in their honor. Indeed, American
responses to the silent protest were far differ-
ent in 2008 than in 1968. After their demon-
stration in the Estadio Olympico during the
200 meters medal presentation and playing
of the American national anthem, writers vir-
ulently criticized Smith and Carlos. Chicago
Daily News sports writer and later American
Broadcasting Company (ABC) play-by-play
THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 42, NO. I Page 49
man Brent Musburger disparaged the
protest, saying:

Smith and Carlos looked like a couple of black
skinned storm troopers (Nazis), holding aloft
their black gloved hands during the playing of
the National Anthem. It's destined to go down as
the most unsubtle demonstration in the history
of protest...and it insured maximum embarrass-
ment for the country that picked up their room
and board bill in Mexico."'
In Other words, how dare these black athletes
rebel against a country that Tommie Smith
said, "Treated him like just another nigger
off the track?"
How and why were Smith and Carlosbanned by the International
Olympic
Committee (IOC) in 1968 but appreciated in
2008? Have Americans become more racially
tolerant of black athletes and the decisions
they make? As historian Urla Hill suggested,
"Smith and Carlos have transcended their
place as villainous traitors to become a sort
of brand for gallantry and pluck in the face
of inestimable odds." Their action, argues
sociologist Douglas Hartmann, diminished
their place in American cultural history. In
other words, the recognition of Smith and
Carlos at the ESPYs alluded to the ways
American sports media specifically, and
white masses more broadly, determine when
and how black protest and self-determina-
tion are acceptable in national contexts."*
The use of self-determination in this article
differs contextually and thematically from
the cultural, psychological, socio-economic,
and political veneration that the term repre-

sented in the late 1960s as articulated by
Stokely Carmichael and others. Rather, as
suggested later in the article, the implemen-
tation of self-determination by black athletes
serves in tandem with what I frame, borrow-
ing from historian and black studies scholar
Derrick White, as pragmatic black national-
ism; in this case, the broad use of celebrity to
engage social responsibility of black commu-
nities and underrepresented groups.
Despite infringements, criticisms, and
sanctions against them. Smith, Carlos, and a
host of other black athletes in the late 1960s
extended a tradition of black self-determina-
tion in sports that tested the limits of Ameri-
can participatory democracy. In 2008, the
recognition of Smith and Carlos at the ESPYs
elucidated the ways black self-determination
is currently understood in American sports
and society. In ways similar to the cooption
of the late Martin Luther King Jr., American
popular culture historically de-radicalized
black protest in myth and memory and
repackaged it in ways removed from its origi-
nal and contextual intentions. On the other
hand, perhaps recognition at the ESPYs tacit-
ly provided opportunities for spectators td
engage historiography on race and sports in
the American experience. Eor the purpose
of this article, reactions to the silent protest
shed light on public interpretations of self-
determination by black athletes in the age of
Obama — sometimes referred to as the
"post-racial era. "̂

The Black Athlete and Self-Determinatíon
THIS ARTICLE investigates the dynamics ofrace and sport
from the 1968 silent
protest to the 2010 LeBron James decision to
leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami
Heat.^ Although contextually removed and
symbolically different from the silent protest,
I argue the hour-long LeBron James decision
extended a lengthy tradition of self-determi-
nation by black athletes. His controversial
and divisive decision challenged the norma-
tive player-owner-spectator relationship when
James asserted control and ownership of his
present and future. The James decision also
was particularly noteworthy because he is a
black athlete. Historically, the agency and
opportunities for black athletes has been
restricted. In the twentieth century many
white critics, both players and officials,
would not accept integrated competition
and discouraged activism in sports. So, it is
plausible to situate reactions to the James
decision in a legacy of criticism against black
athletes. Although James was not the first
free agent to switch teams, his decision on
national television disrupted the age-old
American sporting tradition of the player
and owner relationship when James publicly
shaped his own destiny. I end this article with
a brief examination on the ways the James
Page 50 THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 42, NO. 1

decision overlaps with pragmatic black
nationalism, and serves as a catalyst for social
responsibility and community engagement
for black athletes in the age of Obama.
In 1968 white politicians, journalists, and
administrators attempted to limit black
agency and atbletic potential. After Smith's
and Carlos's silent protest at the Olympics,
many whites were perplexed and flustered.
How dared black athletes use a sporting
event to express dissent? To them, sport best
represented American democracy. Integra-
tion of athletics meant national integration.
To black athletes, athletic integration, which
in some ways was a fallacy, only deepened the
paradox of American democracy.' Reactions
to the silent protest accorded with two posi-
tions on the legacy of white appropriation of
black athletic self-determination. First, to
whites that may have disregarded black con-
cerns, integrated sport best represented the
possibilities of American greatness. Second,
black protest was seen as antithetical to the
idea of sport as a non-political space. Fur-
t h e r m o r e , black activism in sports was
defined as un-American. Historically, black
athletes were viewed as property rather than
autonomous individuals—their sole alle-
giances were supposed to be for team, sport,
or country.
TO CLEVELAND CAVALIERS owner DanGilbert and most
journalists and specta-
tors, James was a traitor that turned his back

on the team and city. The demonization of
James for his self-determination in opposi-
tion to the status quo is a bit ironic, contrast-
ing as it does the American core values of
individuality, competition, and the profit
motive. Thus, I see parallels between self-
determination as a contested issue for black
athletes in both James's decision and in
Smith's and Carlos's raising of the Black
Power salute at the 1968 Olympics.̂
Concurrent to the legacy of appropriation
and criticism against black athletes was a tra-
dition of self-determination that was pro-
pelled forward by them. One-hundred forty-
years prior to the James decision were a
tradition of American sports that privileged
the owner over the athlete. In the late nine-
teenth century paternalistic owners like
sports equipment mogul Albert Spalding (of
the then Chicago White Stockings) exerted
total control over the team. Simply, if players
performed poorly, they were not paid and in
some instances, fired. Despite those restric-
tions, black athletes challenged the financial
boundaries of white-owned sports.^ In the
1890s, Isaac Murphy overcame racial discrim-
ination and made $15,000-$20,000 —
$10,000 more than white jockeys.'" By the
early twentieth century, the prevalence of
white supremacy prohibited black athletes in
the sport. When Olympic champion Jesse
Owens challenged United States Olympic
Committee member (and Nazi sympathizer)
Avery Brundage for increased funds for a

post-1936 Olympic Games tour he was
shunned, scrapped to make a living, and ran
against horses and cars for survival. Fven
Branch Rickey, the legendary white presi-
dent and general manager of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, instructed Jackie Robinson that
baseball needed a black athlete that would
not advocate physical violence against
racism. Although Robinson became the face
of integration in Major League Baseball
(MLB) in 1947, numerous journalists, spec-
tators, and owners opposed his inclusion.
With the advent of integrated professional
sports in the 1950s and 1960s, black athletes
began to earn high salaries."
Black Athletes and Civil Rights
ON THE OTHER HAND, numerous collegiateblack athletes
tapped into sentiments
espoused in the Civil Rights movement and
agitated for human equality and freedom. As
Stan Wright, a black track and field coacb at
the 1968 Olympics said, "it's the morality
involved and not the money...They'd sacri-
fice to serve."'^ Although Wright was refer-
encing collegiate athletes, acclaimed black
professional athletes in the 1960s and 1970s
including Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali,
Wilma Rudolph, and Curt Flood also infused
self-determination into their careers. In the
1990s, Michael Jordan continued a tradition
of self-determination and marketed basket-
ball as a global and profit-based enterprise.
In spite of criticisms against him for leaving
one team for another, LeBron James pro-

THE BLACK SCHOLAR VOLUME 42, NO. 1 Page 51
longed a tradition of self-determination by
black athletes and in doing so publicized
that he and not others controlled his agency
and destiny.
James was not the only black athlete in the
so-called "post racial age of Obama" that
tapped into self-determination in American
sports. On June 15, 2004, Rasheed Wallace won
his only NBA championship when the Detroit
Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in five
games. For Wallace, occasionally referred to as
"Sheed," the tide was only a fraction of his pro-
fessional legacy. Drafted fourth by the Washing-
ton Bullets in 1995, the four-time all-star was a
six-foot, eleven-inch forward that could run the
fast break, defend post players, and knock
down the outside jump shot. Indeed, Wcdlace
epitomized a new hybrid breed of NBA big
men that played like guards and looked like
centers. He also was passionately outspoken
and infamously earned the tide as NBA all-time
technical fouls leader After a loss by his then
team, the Portland Trailblazers, his only
response in the post-game press conference to
the media was, "Both teams played hard.. .both
teams played hard, my man...God bless and
goodnight." The interview later became an
internet sensation on YouTube and it also can
be found on numerous "Sports center" top-ten
reels. However, all of his commentary was not

adored. In 2003, Wallace condemned NBA
commissioner David Stern and his league for
treating black players like slaves on a plantation.
He claimed, "They don't know no better, and
they don't know the real business, and they
don't see behind the charade. They look at
black athletes like we're shit. It's as if we're just
going to shut up, sign for the money and do
what they tell us."'* Similar to the 1960s, reac-
tions by white commissioners, writers, and the
general public were not sympathetic. Why? For
many whites, one cannot be rich and also per-
ceive the world as racist, so highly-paid black
athletes like Wallace appear to embody a con-
tradiction that they are ideologically unable to
reconcile.'"'
To JOURNALIST William Rhoden, author ofa book on blacks in
athletics. Forty Mil-
lion Dollar Slaves, however, Wallace was on to
something. Indeed, Wallace, like fellow Tar
Heel and NBA star Vince Garter, were
African and Afro-American Studies majors at
the University of North Garohna — a disci-
pline rooted in a 1960s black freedom strug-
gle that espoused academic excellence, cul-
tural grounding, and social responsibility.
Wallace understood those principles well
before he became a millionaire. Despite the
fame of numerous black athletes, Rhoden
correcdy argues, they still are on the periph-
ery of true power in multibillion-dollar
American sports.'^Racism remains a dynamic
phenomenon since institutional racism
remains the most salient form of racial dis-

crimination.
Sure, at the 1997 Masters, Fuzzy Zoeller
commented about golfer Tiger Woods:
That little boy is driving well and he's putting
well. He's doing everything it takes to win. So,
you know what you guys do when he gets in here?
You pat him on the back and say congratulations
and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chick-
en next year. Got it?"*
Then Zoeller smiled, snapped his fingers,
walked away, turned and added, "Or collard
greens or whatever the hell they serve."" Or,
in 2008, Golf Ghannel anchor Kelly Tilghman
joked with former golf champion Nick Faldo
that young players should, "lynch him (Tiger
Woods) in the back alley."'* Both instances of
appalling racist commentary were criticized by
the public and then swifdy pushed aside. Why?
In my Introduction to African-American Stud-
ies class, one of my students commented, "it's
not status quo to be racist anymore." To be
more precise, it is not status quo to be overdy
racist and when necessary keep it behind
closed doors — more preferably, systematically
interweave it into the status quo. Even if Wal-
lace made mistakes, and he certainly did, the
former NBA star was conscious of institutional
racism in sports and society. Rhoden, in Forty
Million Dollar Slaves, situated the intersection
of racism and sports in broader historical con-
texts and discussed that one need not be spat
upon, verbally abused, or lynched to under-
stand or experience racism.

The LeBron James Decision
ENTER LeBron James. For nearly a year,sportswriters,
administrators, fans, and
fellow athletes anticipated the 2010 NBA
free agency period because it was highlight-
ed by mega-stars including LeBron James,
Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar'e
Stoudemire, and Dirk Nowitzki. Nearly ten
million people watched the hour-long
announcement of his decision. It was broad-
casted live at the Boys and Cirls Club in
Creenwich, Connecticut in front of a studio
audience. Chaos ensued when the Akron,
Ohio native left the Cleveland Cavaliers
(Cavs) and took his talents to South Beach
and the Miami Heat. Cleveland fans cried,
shouted at television screens, and burned
jerseys. They removed anything connected to
James as "the witness" or "king" — as he had
been hailed — stripping down signs from
Quicken Loans Arena days later. Some jour-
nalists charged conspiracy and said Wade,
Bosh, and James colluded during and after
Team USA won gold in men's basketball at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics.'̂
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert incited anti-
James propaganda. He said the once beloved
king and savior of Cleveland basketball had

become a "coward narcissist" that turned his
back on his hometown. Fans agreed. Some sold
lemonade to support Cilbert in opposition to
NBA Commissioner Stern when he fined Cubert
$100,000. The company Fathead sold replicas of
Benedict Arnold for $17.41, as a play on the
1741 birth date of the so-called first American
traitor in the Revolutionary War.̂ " One local
brewery sold a new beer called "quimess." It was
described as a beer that wiU leave a bitter taste in
your mouth. White and black Cavs fens made a
parody film on a LeBron James video called
"What should I do?" Hit Comedy Central show
"South Park" also mimicked the video in an
episode. His decision to leave the Cavs also made
spectators and journalists unsympathetic to
James the patriot who spearheaded the return to
dominance of USA basketball on the interna-
tional level. Despite everything that James did
"right," his one decision made him the epitome
of everything wrong with sports, celebrity, and
society. Self-determination was not in style for the
American public.
GILBERT certainly had his critics. Somesportswriters pondered
the irony in
Cilbert — a man that wanted James a day
prior but excoriated him when he chose
Miami. One certainty was James re-built the
Cavs into a national and internationally-
acclaimed franchise. One year prior to the
arrival of James as an NBA professional, the
Cavs finished with seventeen wins and sixty-
five losses. That tied their third worst season
in franchise history. After he joined the Cavs,

James was billed as the savior of the fran-
chise. As a high school athlete he was regu-
larly promoted by national media and he
also set a new trend for ESPN. His St. Vin-
cent-St. Mary High School team was televised
nationally often because ESPN wanted to fea-
ture James. Thus, James spearheaded nation-
ally-televised high school basketball. The
Cavs needed a savior and James fit the role.
One supporter of James was the Rev. Jesse
Jackson. Jackson understood James's impact
on the Cavaliers yet framed his decision to
go to the Heat in a slavery context. Jackson
declared, "His (Gilbert) feelings of betrayal
personify a slave master mentality. He sees
LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner-
employee relationship — between business
partners — and LeBron honored his con-
tract."^' Black journalist Jason Whitlock
countered, "Jesse has a constituency, a pas-
sionate group of idiots who believe the best
way to combat white-wing political bigots
such as (Rush) Limbaugh and (Sean) Hanni-
ty is with black-wing political bigotry. "̂ ^
Clearly, the James decision complicated the
relationship between race and sport.
Public Outcry
THE PUBLIC was outraged. How could Jack-son identify race
in a seemingly non-
racial situation? NBA Commissioner Stern, a
good friend of Jackson's, crafted his
response carefully and politely disagreed
with him. Some faulted Jackson and said his

remarks were racist. Jackson became the
bigot to those that advocated a colorblind
agenda, or in other words, denied the persis-
tence of racism in the US.^'Jackson and
other critics of a colorblind framework, say it
defends white advantages.^'' Some scholars
parallel colorblindness to "white habitus" or
the process in which whites' segregated
lifestyle psychologically leads them to devel-
op positive views about themselves and nega-
tive views about racial others.^* To sympathiz-
ers, Gilbert became the misunderstood
owner that was wrongly compared to a slave
owner because of his condemnation of a for-
mer employee who happened to be black.
On the ESPN show "Outside the Lines,"
two of the three panelists, Dennis Manoloff
and Chris Sheridan, agreed that Jackson was
out of line with his comments. Host of the
radio program, 'The Morning Jones," Bomani
Jones differed. First, the general public misin-
terpreted Jackon's criticism of Gilbert as call-
ing him a racist. In actuality, Jackson referred
to a "slave master mentality" in which Gilbert's
letter assumed ownership of a "less than
human piece of property that he lost" to free
agency. Second, Jones argued that Gilbert
incited public rage by posting his letter on the
front page of the Cavaliers website — a ploy
that cemented the owner's message as the

voice of the franchise and instantly put the
safety of James at risk — police units later
patrolled James's multimillion dollar house.
Manoloff asked, "If LeBron James were white
would Jackson make the same comment?"
Jones replied, "A better question is, if the slav-
ery statement was semantically clumsy, then
why are we discussing it and not the rest of
Jackson's statement.. .much of which was accu-
rate." To Jones, the bigger issues were three-
fold. First, Cavaliers supporters assumed play-
ers owe them loyalty. Second, Gilbert's letter
incited public rage. Third, when Gilbert post-
ed the letter at the Cavs website, a member
organization of the broader NBA family, he
cemented his sentiments as the official
response of the fi-anchise.
Race, sports, and self-determination con-
tinue to be hotiy contested issues in Ameri-
can popular culture. During the 2011 ESPN
Town Hall Meeting in honor of Martin
Luther King Jr., Dr. Richard Lapchick cited
racial discrepancies in American media.
According to Tides, in 2010, 94 percent of
sports editors were white, 2 percent black,
and 4 percent other. Nearly 89 percent of
assistant sports editors were white, four per-
cent black, and seven percent other. The
trend continued in regards to columnists,
reporters, and copy editors as whites repre-
sented 88, 87, and 89 percent, respectively,
of those types of media. Out of the five sur-
veys, blacks only comprised double-digit fea-
tures in one category: 10 percent of colum-

nists. Film director Spike Lee asked about
the racial dynamic of athletes and media. In
particular, if the majority of players were
black and the majority of media was white,
then in what ways did the athletes perceive
media coverage? His question put the legacy
of white media coverage in American sport
into the spotlight. Although white spectators,
administrators, politicians, and journalists
were not monolithic, the findings from Dr.
Lapchick elucidated realities that the liveli-
hoods of black athletes often were construct-
ed by persons that either were ill-concerned,
or unknowledgeable of the reality faced by
black athletes. In other words, media criti-
cism about the self-determination of black
athletes was shaped in ways that privileged
experiences of white Americans.̂ ^
Youthful Delusions
BECAUSE of the historical legacy of Ameri-can institutional
racism, sports became
a central strategy for socio-economic vitality
and success for many African-American males
at the expense of the pursuit of success in edu-
cation, public policy, and business. The James
decision also tapped into debates on the rela-
tionship between race, sports, and society in
"post-racial America." Historian Steven Riess
found that 70 percent of black youth between
ages 13-18 expected to play professionally in
tiie NBA.̂ ' The Center for tiie Study of Sport
in Society claimed 66 percent of black males
believed their first job would be as profession-
al athletes.^* However, Prof. Earl Smith of

Wake Forest University asserted that the odds
of black student-athletes becoming profession-
al are 20,000 to one for basketball and 10,000
to one for football.̂ ^
Harry Edwards, a sociologist and central
figure in the advent of activism in 1960s
sports and society, discussed the ways in
which race and sports are skewed in Ameri-
can culture. Edwards noted that racial dis-
crimination in American labor inhibited
blacks' social mobility and benefitted white
Americans over African-Americans. Since
sports, unlike most other forms of labor
available to them, offered monetary wealth.
blacks over-pursued sports and viewed them
as a means to thrive in American society. By
contrast, according to Edwards, whites could
fluidly move in and out of sports. For exam-
ple, when collegiate white athletes in the
1960s fulfilled their eligibility, they could
become doctors, lawyers, and politicians.
Furthermore, it could be argued that Ameri-
can society value..d inclusion of African Amer-
icans in sports more than in its broader soci-
ety. As Edwards asserts:
There is still, a disproportionately high emphasis
on sport achievement in black society...relative
to other high-prestige occupational career aspira-
tions. Given what is happening to young black

people, who have essentially disconnected from
virtually every institutional structure in society,
sports may be our last hook and handle.™
In the late 1960s, some African-American
public figures recognized disparities in sport
and society and offered suggestions that bene-
fitted black people. Edwards remarked that, if
Tresident Nixon can spend his time thinking
about baseball and football, I can spend my
time thinking about the political interests of
black people."'' Earl Graves, publisher of Black
Enterprise said, "In 1979, one out of 4,000 black
children go on to participate in professional
sport — black children unrealistically aspire for
athletic careers as their only means."'̂ Tennis
hall of famer Arthur Ashe wrote a letter to the
New York Times arguing that "black culture
expends too much time, energy and effort rais-
ing, praising, and teasing our black children as
to the dubious glories of sport.. .fill up at the
library and speed away to Congress and the
Supreme Court, the unions and the business
world."'' In 1978, Tommie Smith said:
The athletic scene is worse now than it was in
1968. There's too many other acts of survival that
one has to go through before he can live in this
society. And equality isn't one of them. Being
black in this society is very abstrac
Pragmatic Black Nationalism in the
Age of Obama
SINCE sports remain over-emphasized forblack communities, it
is timely for per-

sons of African descent to reverse this trend
for the benefit of the race and nation. Thus,
the James decision also gives credence to the
necessity of public action for community
engagement and pragmatic black national-
ism, or enlightened self-interest, for black
athletes in the age of Obama. More specifi-
cally, in 2011 James donated two milhon dol-
lars to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Clubs in Cleveland, his hometown of Akron,
and Elyria, Ohio received approximately
$500,000 of that sum. In addition to his cash
contribution James also worked with
Hewlett-Packard and Nike and sponsored a
million dollars' worth of computers and sup
plies for the clubs. All told, James assisted
fifty-nine Boys and Girls Clubs across the US.
Executive director Teresa LeGrair said, "It's
not the first thing he had done for this com-
munity and there will be many more to
come...LeBron loves kids and he's proven
that time and time again."'^
THE JAMES DECISION and his partnershipwith the Boys and
Girls Club promote
the continuation of what historian Derrick
White [following Martin Delany, the nine-
teenth-century black nationalist, abolitionist,
journalist, physician, and writer] termed
"pragmatic nationalism" in his article on the
Institute of the Black World (IBW). White
argues that the IBW promoted "pragmatic
nationalism" or the belief that "flexible and
carefully constructed social, political, and
economic goals and strategies designed to

improve black communities were more
important than ideological pronounce-
ments, conformity, and rigidity."'^ I argue
that black athletes can build on concepts
espoused by the IBW in the early 1970s and
enga.ge pragmatic black nationalism as a
framework to promote social responsibility
in black communities. Indeed and to quote
historian Barbara Ransby, "race is not an
ahistorical phenomenon rooted in a shared
genetic heritage."" Put differently, since
black people are a diverse and dynamic
group, then a pluralistic and pragmatic
methodology for community engagement
becomes useful for black athletes in the age
of Obama.
NFL Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown and Tiger
Woods are two examples of the necessity of
diverse and inclusive approaches to commu-
nity engagement by black athletes. In 1988,
Brown started the Amer-I-Can Foundation
program as a strategy to assist people, espe-
cially minorities, in educational pursuits and
personal confidence through overall achieve-
ment. Since its inception, 500,000 students
have completed the program. In tandem
with this organization. Brown also is also an
activist and mediator against gang violence.
As a former professional athlete that compet-
ed during segregation and was on the front-

line of community engagement. Brown has
been critical of black athletes that fail to
serve underrepresented groups publicly or
privately. "He'll (Michael Jordan or Tiger
Woods) run you over, he'll kick your [butt],
but as an individual for social change or any
of that kind of [stuff] — terrible ...
terrible."'^ For Brown, charity differs from
social change — Jordan and Woods fail to
use their celebrity to engage black communi-
ties and underrepresented groups. In addi-
tion. Brown said:
We are the least-respected culture of any in this
country...One ofthe reasons is that we allow our-
selves to feed on each other. Black kids kill black
kids. We allow neighborhoods to run down. Black
fathers are not at home. Education suffers.
There's a dilemma, and if we don't do something
about the violence, if we don't get some self-
esteem, then we're going to have a war zone in
every community in this country.™
J.A. ADANDE, journalist for the Los AngelesTimes and
panelist on ESPN program
"Around the Horn" questioned Brown's cri-
tique of Woods and advocated a pluralistic
approach to community engagement on the
show. Spike Lee noted that:
Jim Brown comes from a different era...A differ-
ent era of black men, a different era of a black
athlete. These were the brothers that had to go
through segregation, had to go to different
hotels. They faced Jim Crow. The time when a
brother could get lynched for just looking at a

white woman the wrong way. It was a very differ-
ent time.*
In actuality and since its inception, the Tiger
Woods Foundation has assisted ten million
underrepresented youth, built a 35,000-
square-foot learning center, committed sig-
nificant funding for the Farl Woods Scholar-
ship Program, and donates all proceeds from
the AT&T National and Chevron World
Challenge events to his foundation.
IN CONCLUSION, the relationship betweenblack atbletes and
self-determination
remains contested in American culture. The
LeBron James decision elucidated the ways
institutional racism, white privilege, and col-
orblind ideas linger as prevalent themes in
the intersection of sports and society. In par-
ticular, many Americans attempt to define
what discrimination is, who experiences it,
and when they face it. Additionally, racism
and specifically attempts by white spectators,
fans, writers, administrators, and politics to
define black self-determination are a subplot
in the legacy of American racism. For black
atbletes, more importantly, tbe LeBron
James decision symbolically represented two
sbifts. First, the spectacle that surrounded
his hour-long special and decision rein-
forced the empowerment and influence of
black athletes in American and global cul-
tures. It demonstrated the power of celebrity
then, as a tool for the eradication of institu-
tional racism and promotion of community

engagement — two endeavors that must be
tackled aggressively and publicly.
Second, tbe financial contributions by
James to tbe Boys and Girls Clubs reinforced
the potential of pragmatic black nationalism
— a message tbat must be publicized and uti-
lized for black and underrepresented com-
munities. The LeBron James decision sig-
naled the impact black athletes could have
on spearheading efforts related to social and
economic development of black communi-
ties. In this capacity James was not alone.
Jalen Rose, a former member of tbe
acclaimed University of Michigan basketball
team's "Fab Five," donated significant funds
to inner-city education in Detroit. Basketball
player Dikembe Mutombo started his own
foundation and in 2007, the twenty-nine mil-
lion dollar Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital
opened in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of
the Congo. Basketball player Vince Carter
has donated in the upwards of five million
dollars to education and alcohol rehabilita-
tion in Florida. Basketball player Metta
World Peace, formally known as Ron Artest,
is a vocal advocate for mental health aware-
ness. In December 2010 on "Sports Genter,"
the signature show for ESPN, Artest
announced his intentions to donate millions
for aid in that area. At the 2012 ESPN Town

Hall Meeting in honor of Martin Luther
King Jr., Jamelle Hill, one of a handful of
black women sports journalists in main-
stream American media, stated that black
athletes must continue engaging in social
responsibility as a primary endeavor.
Historically, numerous African-Americans
have struggled for socio-economic empower-
ment of black communities. In some ways,
"the decision" reinforced the importance of
self-determination and community engage-
ment as primary concerns for black athletes
— with attempts to define the parameters of
black self-determination in sport and society
only contextually relevant in understanding
the dynamism and struggle against American
racism. Due to many of the hurdles that black
communities in the nation and throughout
the diaspora face, I argue that the commit-
ment of black athletes to social responsibility
and community building is vital and must be
publicized on levels comparable to their ath-
letic and celebrity accompHshments. Black
athletes thus become cultivators of the impor-
tance of social responsibility in black commu-
nities as their infiuence could provide both
direct and indirect motivation to future gen-
erations of black youth to engage in their
communities positively and actively. The free-
dom struggle continues and to paraphrase
"Sheed, just play hard, my man...God bless
and goodnight."
Endnotes

1. The Protest: On the morning of 16 October 1968, US
athlete Tommie Smith won the 200-meter race in a
world-record time of 19.83 seconds, ™th Australia's
Peter Norman second with a time of 20.06 seconds,
and the US's John Carlos in third place with a time
of 20.10 seconds. After the race was completed, the
three went to collect their medals at the podium.
The two US athletes received their medals shoeless,
but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty.
Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to repre-
sent black pride, Carlos had his tracksuit top
unzipped to show solidarity with all blue collar work-
ers in the US and wore a necklace of beads which he
described "were for those individuals that were
lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for,
that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown
off the side of the boats in the middle passage." All
three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human
Rights (OPHR) badges after Norman, a critic of Aus-
tralia's White Australia Policy, expressed empathy
with their ideals. Sociologist Harry Edwards, the
founder of the OPHR, had urged black athletes to
boycott the games; reportedly, the actions of Smith
and Carlos on 16 October 1968 were inspired by
Edwards arguments. Both US athletes intended on
bringing black gloves to the event, but Carlos forgot
his, leaving them in the Olympic Village. It was the
Australian, Peter Norman, who suggested Carlos
wear Smiths left-handed glove, this being the reason
behind him raising his left hand, as opposed to his
right, differing from the traditional Black Power
salute. When The Star-Spangled Banner played. Smith
and Carlos delivered the salute with heads bowed, a
gesture which became front page news around the
world. As they left the podium they were booed by

the crowd. Smith later said, "If I win, I am American,
not a black American. But if I did something bad,
then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and
we are proud of being black. Black America will
understand what we did tonight." (Wikipedia.
Accessed 4 April 2012).
2. Samuel L.Jackson remarks, ESPY Awards, July 16,
2008.
3. Brent Musburger, "Bizarre Protest by Smith, Carlos
Tarnishes Medals," Chicago Daily News. Eor more see
C.D.Jackson and John Carlos, Why? The Biography of
John Carlos (Los Angeles: Milligan Books, 2000);
David Steele; and Tommie Smith, Silent Gesture: The
Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2007); Frank Murphy, The Last
Protest: Lee Evans in Mexico City (Kansas City: Wind-
sprint Press, 2006); Harry Edwards, The Revolt of the
Black Athlete (New York: The Free Press, 1970); Kevin
B. Witherspoon, Before the Eyes of the World: Mexico
and the 1968 Olympic Games (DeKalb, IL: Northern
Illinois Press, 2008); Douglas Hartmann, Race, Cul-
ture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete: The 1968
Olympic Protests and Their Aftermath (Chicago: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 2004) ; Amy Bass, Not the Tri-
umph But the Struggle: The 1968 Olympics and the Mak-
ing of the Black Athlete, (Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 2002).
4. For more on self-determination in the Black Power
movement see Stokely Carmichael and Ekwueme
Michael Thelwell, Ready for Revolution: The Life and
Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (New York: Scribner,
2003).

5. See Ann Morning, "Toward Sociology of Racial Con-
ceptualization for the 21st Century," Sodal Forces, 87
(Mar 2009), 1167-1992; David Hollinger, "Obama,
the Instability of Color Lines, and Promises of a
Postethnic Future," Callaloo, 31 (Fall 2008), 1033-
1037; Ricky Jones, What's Wrong with Obamamania?
Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Politi-
cal iTimgination (Albany, NY: State University of New
York Press, 2008).
6. One notable article on the use of race and sport by
historians is Allen Guttmann, "Sport, Politics, and
the Engaged Historian," Journal oJ Contemporary His-
tory, 38 (July 2003), 363-375.
7. In my dissertation I term the dichotomy of infringe-
ments on black freedom in a racially equal space
"discriminative integration." More broadly, I investi-
gate the symbiotic relationship between track and
field and the twentieth-century black freedom move-
ment. I assert that athletics was one of the first inte-
grated social fields in US history. Despite opportuni-
ties for integrated competition in track and field,
black athletes confronted racial injustices under con-
ditions that were officially framed as integrationist
and racially equal. For more see Jamal Ratchford,
"Black Fists and Fool's Gold: The 1968 Black Athletic
Revolt Reconsidered," Ph.D. Dissertation, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, 2011.
8. Despite this claim, William Rhoden noted key distinc-
tions on race and sports in post-Brown America. He

said integration "weakened the collective resolve of
African Americans and spawned a mentality of using
blackness as a way to get a piece of the pie without
necessarily feeling any reciprocal responsibility to sus-
tain black institutions." See William Rhoden, Forty
MiUion Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of
the Black Athlete (New York: Grown Publishing Group,
2007), 256; Shaun Powell, Souted Out? How Blacks are
Winning and Losing in Sports (Ghampaign, IL: Human
Kinetics, 2008); David Wiggins, "With All Deliberate
Speed': High School Sport, Race, and Brown v. Board
of Education,"/ourna/ of Sport History, 37 (Fall 2010).
For a general examination on race and popular cul-
ture see James Stewart, Flight in Search of Vision (Tren-
ton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2004).
9. Elliott J. Gornand Warren Goldstein, A Brief History
of American Sport (Ghicago: University of Illinois
Press, 2004).
10. David Wiggins, Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White
America (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press,
1997).
11. Richard Stone, "Negro Athletes Push For Better
Treatment, Wider Job Opportunity-Black Pros Want
Managerial, Top Goaching Slots; Gollege Stars Allege
Discrimination-Is a Boycott Any
Solution
," Wall Street
Journal, 19 June 1968; "Where Negroes Have 'Struck

it Rich," US News &f WorldReport, 11 December 1967.
12. Bill Jauss, "Remodel: Switch Forrnat or Olympics will
be Destroyed, Says Wright," Chicago Daily News, 2
November 1968; Robert Markus, "Sports Trail:
Ftiture of Olympics Worries Wright," Chicago Tribune,
14 November 1968.
13. Jon Saraceno, "Keeping Score: Despite Wallace's
Rant, NBA Remains a Players' League," USA Today,
14 December 2003; "Blowing Smoke," Washington
Times, 12 December 2003. In 2012, Duke Goach.
Mike Krzyzewski said, "We're slaves to what the NBA
does with early-entry. If they ever put that in on a
two-year basis, you'll see more dominant teams."
Unlike Wallace, Goach K, a respected white coach in
American sports media, was not criticized for com-
paring NCAA basketball to slavery. See Jeff Good-
man, "Goach K Galls UNG Most Talented Team in
Nation," GBS Sports, 6 February 2012. http://col-
lege-basketball-blog.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/
entry/26283066/34726709 [Accessed 7 February
2012].

14. In the 1960s and due to the advent of lucrative con-
tracts earned by athletes such as Wilt Ghamberlain and
Hank Aaron, numerous spectators and journalists criti-
cized black athletes that spoke against racism.
15. William Rhoden, Forty MiUion Dollar Slaves: The Rise,
Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete (New York:
Three Rivers Press, 2006).
16. "Golfer Says Comments about Woods 'Miscon-
strued,'" GNN, 21 April 1997.
17. Ibid.
18. "Tiger OK with 'Lynch' Joke, Sharpton Isn't: Golf
Ghannel Anchor Tilghman Suspended over Gom-
ments about Woods," Assodated Press, 9 January 2008.
19. J.A. Adande, "King and Go. Guilty only of Dreaming
Big," ESPN, 11 July 2010; Marc Stein, "Sources: No
Probe from Gavs, Raptors," ESPN, 12 July 2010; Ghris
Broussard, "Time for Gavs Owner to Act his Age,",
ESPN, 9 July 2010; Scoop Jackson, "LeBron's Big
Move? Been There," ESPN, 10 July 2010; Tom Withers,
"LeBron's Mural Goming Down in Gleveland," Yahoo

Sports (online), [Accessed 10 July 2010]; "LeBron's
'Decision' Watched by Nearly lOM People," Yahoo
Sports (online) [Accessed 11 July 2010]; Tom Withers,
"Gavs Owner Defends Stance on LeBron," Yahoo
Sports (online), [Accessed 12July2010].
20. "Fathead Suggests LeBron is the New Benedict
Arnold," USA Today, 9 July 2010, h t t p : / / c o n t e n t .
usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/07
/lebron-jimies-fathead-dan-gilbert-benedict-arnold/l
[Accessed 6 February 2012].
21. Jason Whitlock, "Jesse Jackson Way off Base on
Lebrón," Fox Sports, 12 July 2010. Ironically, in 2012,
Whitlock was engulfed in his own racialized contro-
versy when he criticized New York Knicks sensation
and first Asian-American NBA player Jeremy Lin.
Whitlock said, "Some lucky lady in NYG is going to
feel a couple inches of pain tonight." See Kelly
Dwyer, 'Jason Whitlock Apologizes for His Unfunny
Jeremy Lin Gomment on Twitter," Yahoo Sports
(online) 13 February 2012; http://sports.yahoo.com/
blogs/nba-ball-dont-Iie/jason-whitlock-apologizes-
unfunny-jeremy-lin-twitter-145934497.html [Accessed
14 February 2012]. See also Eric Adelson, "Floyd

Mayweather Hits Jeremy Lin on Race," The Post Game,
13 February 2012, http://www.thepostgame.com/
blog/daily-take/201202/floyd-mayweather-plays-race-
card-jeremy-lin [Accessed 14 February 2012].
22. Ibid.
23. For a reference on color blind debates see Mary
Williams, Discrimination: Opposing Viewpoints (San
Diego, GA; Greenhaven Press, 1997).
24. Ann Ansell, "Gasting a Blind Eye: The Ironic Gonse-
quences of Golor-Blindness in South Africa and the
United States," Critical Sodology, 32 (March 2006), 333-
356; Ashley Doane, "What is Racism? Racial Discourse
and Racial Politics," Critical Sodobgy, 32 (March 2006),
255-274; Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Radsm Without Racists:
Color-Blind Racists and the Persistence of Radal Inequality
in the United States (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Litde-
field, 2003); Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, White Supremacy

and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era (Boulder, CO: L.
Rienner, 2001); David Brunsma, Mixed Messages: Mul-
tiradal Identities in the "CoUrr-BUnd" Era. (Boulder, CO:
L. Rienner, 2006).
25. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva; Carla Goar; and David
Embrick, "When Whites Flock Together: The Social
Psychology of White Habitus," Critical Sociology, 32
(March 2006), 229-253.
26. For an extensive examination on current issues in
race and American sports see TIDES or The Institute
for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Dr. Richard
Lapchick, http://www.tidesport.org/index.html
[Accessed 6 February].
27. Steven A. Riess, "Basketball Career Still An Inner-
City Dream but Only Few Achieve Star Status, Finan-
cial Rewards," http://www.america.gov/st/sports-
english/200/apri/20080401/2042zjsredna0.8432886
.html [Accessed 3 February 2012].
28. C. Keith Harrison, "There Is More to Life than
Sports: Getting Brothers to Take the Road Less Trav-
eled," h t t p : / / d i v e r s e e d u c a t i o n . c o m / a r t i c l e

/
8143/l.php [Accessed 3 February 2012].
29. Earl Smith, 'The African American Student-Athlete"
in Charles K. Ross, ed.. Race and Sport: The Struggle for
Equality On and OfftheField (Jackson: University Press
of Mississippi, 2004), 121-145. See also David Wig-
gins, "With All Deliberate Speed': High School
Sport, Race, and Brown v. Board of Education, "foumal
of Sport History, 37 (Fall 2010), 329-346.
30. See Dave Leonard, 'The Decline of the Black Ath-
lete: An Interview with Harry Edwards," Colorlines
30 (2000): 20-24 (reprinted in David K Wiggins and
Patrick B. Miller, The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documen-
tary History of the African American Experience in Sport
[Urbana: University of Illinois, 2003], 435-441); Wig-
gins, "Deliberate Speed," 342.
31. "Black Power in Sports," New York Herald Tribune. See
also Harry Edwards, "The Olympic Project for
Human Rights: An Assessment Ten Years Later," The
Black Scholar, 10 (March/April 1979), 2-8.
32. Wiggins, 191.

33.Ibid.
34. Neil Amdur, 'Tommie Smith at 34: His Struggle
Goes On," New York Times, 24 December 1978.
35. Mark Gillespie, "LeBron James' 'Decision' Helps
Boys and Girls Clubs in Northeast Ohio," The Plain
Dealer, 27 April 2011, http://blog.cleveland.com/
metro/2011/04/boys_and_girls_clubs_in_northe.html
[Accessed 6 February 2012].
36. Derrick White, "Black World View': The Insütute of
the Black World's Promotion of Pragmatic National-
ism, 1969-1974,"/ourna/ of African American History,
95 (Summer/Fall 2010), 369-391.
37. Barbara Ransby, "Afrocentrism, Cultural National-
ism, and the Problem with Essentialist Definitions of
Race Gender, and Sexuality," in Manning Marable,
ed.. Dispatches from the Ebony Tower: Intellectuals Con-
front the African American Experience (New York:
Columbia University Press), 2000, 218.
38. Gene Wojciechowski, 'Jim Brown Won't Back Down
on Tiger," ESPN, 2 July 2009, http://sports.espn.go.

com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_
gene&id=4301802 [Accessed 6 February 2012].
39. Ibid.
40. J.A. Adande, "No Black or White in Life of Brown,"
Los Angeles Times, 25 April 2002, h t t p : / /
articles.latimes.com/2002/apr/25/sports/sp-adande25
[Accessed 6 February 2012]. I assert pause in our
memory of protest in the 1960s. Actually, many
African Americans did not engage activism in the
1950s and 1960s black freedom movement. Rather,
as articulated by numerous scholars in the last ten
years, African-Americans understood, appropriated,
and acted on the urgency of "Freedom Now" widely
and diversely. The pluralistic approach to protest
also involved black athletes as they agreed and dis-
agreed with the infusion of activism in sports.
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