The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Black athletes speaking out
Social media providing a platform for activism.
By the 1980s, America finally publicly embraced the black athlete, looking past skin color to see athleticism and skill, rewarding stars with multi-million-dollar athletic contracts, movie deals, lucrative shoe endorsements and mansions in allwhite enclaves.
Who didn’t want to be like Mike?
But those fortunate black athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods did not, for the most part, use their celebrity to speak out. Most were silent on issues like the crack epidemic, apartheid in South Africa, the racial tensions exposed by the O.J. Simpson trial and the police brutality that set off the Rodney King riots.
Of course, there were exceptions — more, perhaps, than are generally remembered. And the times and the media of those times did not necessarily lend themselves to protest. But while Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali once stood up — and more recently, Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Serena Williams and others would not back down — black athletes of the 1980s and ’90s were known mostly for playing games.
“It seems to me that we need to rethink how we define ‘activism’ since black athletes certainly were involved in various social causes during that era. Anecdotally, I think about them donating to various scholarship funds and participating in ‘say no to drugs’ campaigns,’” said Johnny Smith, who is the Julius C. “Bud” Shaw Professor of Sports, Society, and Technology at Georgia Tech.
“That’s certainly a form of activism. However, on the whole, the most prominent black male athletes were not confrontational or outspoken.”
When Harvey Gantt took on conservative Republican Sen. Jesse Helms in 1990, Jordan — the undisputed superstar athlete of his time — refused to support the black Democrat in his native North Carolina, reportedly saying Republicans buy shoes, too.
It took until 2016 for Jordan to finally speak out strongly on a social issue by condemning the killing of black men at the hands of police, writing in a column published by The Undefeated website.
Woods said this week that throughout America’s history, blacks have struggled.
“A lot of different races have had struggles, and obviously the African-Americans here in this country have had their share of struggles,” Woods said. “Obviously has it gotten better, yes, but I still think there’s room for more improvement.”
The mold of the public activist — the person who is willing to lead but also willing to lose everything for a cause — doesn’t fit everyone, said Harry Edwards, a scholar of race and sports who has been a consultant for several U.S. pro teams.
Some guys are fine “picking up a paycheck” because they don’t want to be bothered, Edwards said.
Dominique Wilkins, an NBA Hall of Famer known as the “Human Highlight Film” for his thunderous, acrobatic dunks during the 1980s and ’90s, believes social media have amplified athletes’ voices.
“We didn’t have a platform because it wasn’t that type of media around,” Wilkins said. “You had the normal, everyday media, but you didn’t have Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, you didn’t have any of that.”
Wilkins, 58, said people are completely off-base when they say his generation didn’t do anything or care about what was happening in their communities and in the world.
“We grew up in a different era. We were born in the civil rights era. I remember when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated,” said Wilkins, an NBA analyst for Atlanta Hawks games for Fox SportsSouth.
“People who say we didn’t care don’t know what they’re talking about. … We cared. We were a part of it, so we cared.
“Our parents lived it. Our grandparents lived it. How can we not care?”
The activism of the time was different, said sports historian Victoria Jackson, who works in the School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies at Arizona State University.
Behind the scenes, superstar athletes worked in their communities and with schools — without making their activities known or asking for publicity for their time. Millions of dollars went to schools like historically black colleges and universities — as well as other deserving charities including social justice charities — without public acknowledgment, Jackson said.
“While we might have seen a decline in athletes voicing strong opinions publicly about systemic racism, police brutality, criminal justice and education and residential and workplace reform, and perhaps the growth of endorsements contributed to this, I would suspect — if we did a little digging — we’d find countless stories of athletes doing work in the space of social justice and that this is the constant theme in the long historical arc,” she said.
The most radical actions of black athletes of the time, some say, were in boardrooms, not on the streets.
Jordan built a brand that turned him into a Nike powerhouse, where he brought African-American businessmen and women up the ladder with him, before becoming the first black sports billionaire with his NBA team ownership of the Charlotte Hornets.
Mike Glenn, a 10-year NBA veteran who played from 1977-87 and member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association board of directors, believes how those first black millionaires went about their business helped build the foundation that allows athletes to speak out today.
Jordan and other iconic athletes of that period established the power of individual sports brands, a transitional platform Glenn believes athletes benefit from today.
“LeBron has took what Michael had,” Glenn said, “and taken it a step further.”