The
Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of
Patiotism
by Howard Bryant (Beacon Press, 2018, 288 pages, $26.95/18.99) begins
and ends with Colin Kaepernick, the black American football player
who, when
he’d had enough, decided to take a knee during the playing of the
national anthem before kickoff of his now former team, the San
Francisco 48ers
in protest against the treatment of young black men at the hands of
police across the country. Between
these bookends lies a rich history of the political and social
involvement of black athletes from the 1920’s to he present. Bryant
writes
highly readable prose, supported by anecdote and statistics to show
the evolution and devolution of the super-stars during three distinct
periods. The book is persuasive and interesting.
Many
people who read it will nod as the book rushes by and cheer at the
conclusions. Lots of readers, less inclined to hear and understand,
won’t like what they read.
After
introducing the problem and model represented by Kaepernick, Bryant
takes the reader back to the mid-twentieth century by introducing one
of my own musical and political heroes, Paul Robeson, who, as a black
student at Rutgers in the 1920’s twice recognized as a consensus
All-American football football player and class valedictorian,
graduated from Columbia Law School and established himself as an
actor, singer (Old Man River and Water Boy), flirted with Communism
before being deprived of his passport by the House Unamerican
Activities Committee, and became a hero of the civil rights movement
before his death in the 1965.
Bryant
recognizes black athletes as creating a heritage of advancement and
courage in the face of pre-war Jim Crow America and the world of
increased opportunity represented by their return to an America
changed by World War II and Harry Truman’s elimination of racial
discrimination in the armed services. There athletes, represented by
the likes of Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Joe Lewis, Jim Brown, Kurt
Flood, professor Harry Edwards, Muhammad Ali and others established
the place of black athletes to play and to speak out. Many, like Kurt
Flood, John Carlos, and Muhammed Ali all sacrificed years of their
professional lives as the organized sport and public resistance
shortened or ended their careers. Their sacrifices and successes
served to pave the way for others.“We
had to take care of each other,” former
baseball player and manager Dusty
Baker said. “There weren’t that many of us. You knew the game
didn’t always want you. You had to pass on what you knew, like,
prepare the ones that were coming. That was your responsibility.”
While
sports provided an entree to wealth and fame, black intelligence and
thoughtfulness were denied or ignored.
The
second era, characterized by Bryan as the period of “Shut up and
play!” featured the emergence of superb athletes who were able to
dominate their sport, but were, at the same time, willing and able to
characterize themselves as virtually race-less. While obviously men
of color, their demeanor and dominance of their sport occurred in a
time where their salaries as players were dwarfed by their income
from product endorsements and public appearances. Athletes like
Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, O,J. Simpson preferred to duck social
issues, while living lavish lifestyles and not speaking out on social
issues, despite the fact that many able and talented black athletes
were not being rewarded in the ways that they the stars,were. Bryant
argues, “that
for all the money, the players were still black, and the minute any
one of them ran afoul of the white mainstream public, either by
decline in play or by specifically taking a political stand that
advocated for African Americans, that same public would be quick to
turn on him.”
Then,
two commercial airliners were crashed into the twin towers of the
World Trade Center on September 11, 2001
killing 2997 people
and the world changed. Patriotism
blossomed. The U.S. had eliminated compulsory military service in
1973, and all our armed services were staffed by volunteers. These
two events ushered in a period of patriotic fervor eagerly promoted
and
paid for
by professional sports. Policing
that increasingly used military hardware and former members of the
military to staff its force. Meanwhile,
proliferating
police
illegal shootings and violence against the black community coincided
with patriotic celebrations held in stadiums and on playing fields
around the country.
A
new era of resistance to black issues came up against a new voice of
African Americans with the money and the self-awareness to speak out
on the issues confronting them as they became the majority of
athletes in both the NFL and the NBA. Bryant
characterizes this period as “The Awakening.” Black athletes’
voices were heard and their money was spent to help speak for them.
LaBron James, Carmello Anthony, and, perhaps most visibly, Colin
Kaepernick became symbols of the new willingness to speak out and
contribute
cash to causes.
Bryant
comments, “The real reclamation is when you decide to get on the
bus. Where do you get on the bus? Where will you participate? The
question will be, ‘What did you do for the people? What did you do
with your wealth? Can I impact the life of a young person when it
counts, not when it’s safe?”
Howard Bryant
Howard
Bryant is a sports journalist and television personality appearing on
both the radio and television. He often appears on the ESPN program
The
Sports Reporters
as well as NPR’s Weekend Edtion. He has steadily risen from local
beat to national prominence as a reporter and commentator. The
Heritage
is his fifth book.
Any
white reader
expecting The
Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of
Patiotism
by Howard Bryant (Beacon Press, 2018, 288 pages, $26.95/18.99) to
provide comfort, should be warned. This book, read with an open and
attentive mind will make you uncomfortable. Bryant’s
narrative is compelling, his story-telling superb, his use of
examples cogent and on-point, and the case he builds strong. The
nexus of racism, changed definitions of patriotism, courage and
avarice, and white complicity to silence the black athlete are
difficult or impossible to deny. I highly recommend this book to any
reader eager to understand the role of sport within today’s
politics and divisions. I was provide the book as a pre-publication
download by the publisher through Edelweiss. I read it on my Kindle
app.
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