Black athletes adored

You can’t say we weren’t warned. Some of the most influential figures in the history of the United States have foreshadowed both the peaceful protesting and violent destruction that have enveloped the nation in the wake of last week’s police killing of George Floyd.

But those figures were black athletes, and white America regarded their words as little more than the ramblings of a dumb jock. The sports world could have perhaps effected the change that might have prevented the burning of America, if only America had deemed it worthy to listen.

‘‘So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years,’’ said Muhammad Ali. For that, he was exiled.

‘‘If I do something good, then I am American, but if I do something bad then I am a Negro,’’ said Tommie Smith, pictured right, after raising his fist with John Carlos at the 1968 summer Olympics.

For that, they were shunned.

‘‘There’s a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality,’’ said Colin Kaepernick, the NFL quarterback who kneeled during the national anthem.

For that, he was blackballed. ‘‘Kaepernick passively protested during the anthem and he was ignored – this weekend, you got the alternative,’’ said Dr Todd Boyd, USC professor of race and pop culture. ‘‘People can’t say they haven’t been told.’’

It is the sad dichotomy that has defined America’s sports culture and delves into the heart of its prejudiced nature. Black athletes are loved when they are playing, but devalued the minute they stop.

‘‘It’s the same with all black athletes,’’ said Clippers coach Doc Rivers. ‘‘When they’re wearing the uniform, they’re seen as an athlete. When they

take it off, it’s a problem.’’ ‘‘Shut up and dribble’’ wasn’t just some ignorant phrase coined a couple of years ago by conservative talkshow host Laura Ingraham.

Fact is, it’s a phrase long believed by many, even though this ignorance makes no sense in a reasonable society. After all, perhaps nowhere is the intersection of white and black America more perfect than during a sports event.

The majority of football and basketball players are black, the majority of fans in the stands are white, yet seemingly every night in gyms or fields across this country, the two disparate groups empower each other, uplift each other, and connect on a level deeper and wider than anywhere else in this fractured land.

The white fans embrace black athletes even though they look far different than them. The fans drop their popcorn and spill their beer in order to stand up and cheer for the athletes as if they were family members. They chant their first names as if they were on the same team. They bow as if they are not worthy.

The black athletes, as with all athletes, feed off the love of these white strangers. They raise their hands to inspire them. They wave their arms upward to exhort them. They say they play harder when they hear them. It is the biggest reason teams perform better at home.

Nowhere in America do differences in colour and culture disappear quicker than in the three hours of a sporting event.

So how come things change so much when the games end? How come we don’t listen when these same athletes we love in the arena complain about being