The Great White Hope: The Presidency of Donald Trump

The Great White Hope: The Presidency of Donald Trump

            In the sport world, white Americans have often sought for a Great White Hope to regain dominance and express their racial superiority via masculinity; thus, white supremacy. In the early 1900’s, their effort to dethrone the great boxing legend, Jack Johnson, was unsuccessfully attempted by Jim Jeffries in 1910. Jack Johnson’s victories and reign as heavyweight champion provided a psychological boost to the racially oppressed and neglected Black masses. However, in 1915, in a questionable lost to Jess Willard, the professional heavyweight title was restored to a white boxer. Thus, Jack Johnson and “all” Black Americans were, once again, put in their psychological places, and severed of their momentary experience of racial empowerment. Willard made boxing “great again” for white Americans, and his victory, once again, extolled the ideology of white masculinity – white supremacy. The very thought of a Black man being equal or superior to a white man was secured in this victory – at least for some. It wasn’t until 1937, that we see a Black boxer, Joe Louis, appearing on the boxing scene and recapturing the title and instilling symbolic empowerment for millions of Blacks in this country and throughout the world.

            Beyond the sport world, Mr. Donald Trump is the Great White Hope for those who voted him in office: 58% of whites voted for Mr. Trump. His presidency, with reckless abandonment, has been busily overthrowing most of the policies and regulations the former President Barack Obama’s administration instituted. From environment, education, to immigration, etc., policies, the Trump administration feels the need to remove Obama’s legacy, thus, Obama’s efforts, effectiveness, and thus his very presence as a U.S. President.

Drawing parallels between the former President Barack Obama and Jack Johnson is inconceivable in character, offices occupied, principles, lifestyles, etc.; however, the symbolic empowerment and racial uplift both provided, although transient, is one of the similarities these individuals share. The other similarity is that their victory and presence in esteemed positions (i.e., heavyweight champion and president of the most powerful country in the world; not necessarily equitable) created a desperate need to restore the imbalance in power fostered by a system of white supremacy, or making America great again.

Mr. Trump, the modern-day Jess Willard, is throwing jabs, ducking and dodging, and slipping punches, in efforts to make America great again. Amidst this political pugilism, his administration is being upended and this country is in turmoil. Several White House officials have thrown in the towels, some voluntarily and some involuntarily, which has created instability and is drawing questions about Trumps corner. Furthermore, protests are erupting in various cities about this nation’s past and certain population’s fascination with celebrating its past with monuments of individuals and groups who were racially divisive. This is another blow to Mr. Trumps administration, because he hasn’t totally satisfied the appetites of the Alt-left in unequivocally denouncing the ideals of Nazism and racism of white nationalist, without fork-tonguing the issues and blaming the victim. Mr. Trump’s back is against the ropes. A defensive strategy could be just as effective as being on the offensive.

History has it that Jack Johnson threw the fight and allowed Jess Willard to regain the title, mainly as a strategy to reduce the white animosity that had mounted towards Johnson. Although there are rounds yet to be fought for the Trump administration, his efforts of being the great white hope or great white savior is being determined round by round on the public’s scorecard. Will he have the stamina to endure and reign as champion, and ultimately, the great white hope?

In Response to The Undefeated’s Article on the Erasure of First Generation Basketball Players: Racial and Social Class Cleansing of the NBA

In Response to The Undefeated’s Article on the Erasure of First Generation Basketball Players:

Racial and Social Class Cleansing of the NBA

The history of the NCAA has been a history of athletic reform. Since its inception in the early 1900’s the NCAA has worked diligently at constructing a wholesome image for college athletics; most of this has been through the efforts of instituting policies that have sought to address key areas over the history of college sports: player safety, academic integrity, integrity of the game to name a few.

The implementation of policies, especially, their academic policies have had an adverse effect on certain populations that have used sport as a means to an end - social mobility. The seventies represented a significant growth of Black male athletes in both the revenue generating sports of football and basketball. Prior to this, the majority of southern universities adhered to staunch segregationist beliefs and practices, while northern and a few western universities peppered their basketball and football teams with Black male athletes.

The mining of Black athletic talent by predominantly white universities’ athletic programs to build multimillion dollar budgets also created patterns of academic neglect that continue to embarrass several of the nation’s top institutions of higher learning.

The first wave of “racial and social class cleansing” to place when the NCAA implemented academic policies with the intention of improving graduation rates of a certain group of college athletes. This was the era of the propositions/proposals, which occurred during the mid to late 1980s throughout the 1990s – e.g., Prop 48, 42, 16, etc. This era was noted for the protests by Coaches John Thompson and John Chaney and other critiques who foresaw the racial and social class cleansing that would result in the implementation of these academic policies. During this period, Prop 48 was the only one successfully implemented and later modified when Prop 16 fail obtaining approval. Prop 48, as suspected by its critiques negatively impacted the enrollment of Black male football and basketball players. Thus, the cleansing began.

The second wave of racial and social class cleansing is occurring during this current era of the APR (Academic Progress Rate). Intentionally or unintentionally, NCAA academic policies have had this effect on Black male athletes, especially in the sports of football and basketball.

Now with the NCAA Goal study data presented by ESPN Undefeated inform that there is a decline of first generation (first gen’rs) players as the result of academic reform policies and image management strategies employed by the NCAA. Both Latino and Black male athletes, once again, are adversely impacted.

I have mixed emotions about this data. On the one hand, I feel it has been a racial and social class cleansing initiated by NCAA academic policies that have sought to improve their overall image and somehow achieve academic reform amidst it corporate mission; especially as it relates to their money makers - March Madness and the college football playoffs, which generates revenue is over $800 million and $600 million annually. Improving the educational experience, and more specifically, graduation rates is the PR piece that is packaged and sold to millions through sophisticated public service announcements. In the case of the college athlete, graduation rates should not be the ultimate standard to judge academic achievement, because studies, documentaries, etc., have shown that athletes can and have graduate with degrees that they either do not know how what to do with it or how to transfer it into gainful employment.

On the other hand, as a former first gen'r who competed with a host of first gen'rs, we were more susceptible to exploitation, because we perceived basketball to be our only way out; thus, when the coach said jump, we said, how high? The coach said run, and we said how fast and how far? Even competing at a private NAIA Division school, we believed the hype, that sport was our ticket to a better life, and didn’t challenge the imbalance in power.

The notion of having more middle-class athletes competing, is promising in terms of grass roots athletic reform initiate by athletes because this may be the group that tap into the ethos of activism that is prevailing across this nation. If activist efforts do not come from the athletes themselves, who are in revenue generating sport, it may come from their parents, who may be more politically and legally savvy. Parents like LaVar Ball who is challenging the NCAA’s hypocritical and antiquated amateurism policy. The parents of these elite level athletes, and Black parents specifically, with the resources should be proactive in seeking legal counsel before their child sign the rights to their likeness and image away, or sign any documentation that binds them to the mercies of the university.

If history is a predictor of our future, it informs us that this social class has often given birth to many of the leaders of social justice movements. Strategic to the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements were Black college students who attended many of this nation’s premiere educational institutions. Therefore, in the words of C.L.R. James author of The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L ‘Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution, “From the very momentum of their own development, colonial planters, French and British bourgeois, were generating internal stresses and intensifying external rivalries, moving blindly to explosions and conflicts which would shatter the basis of their dominance and create the possibility for emancipation.” The application of this statement to college athletics implies that inherent in the NCAA’s system of expansion and “race and class cleansing” are the potentialities of emancipation, justice or merely, just treatment. In their efforts to spark academic reform and polish their image, the NCAA could be nurturing a group of college athletes to challenge their policies that have mainly benefited the NCAA and its membered institutions, like football players from Northwestern or Mizzou football players who supported the cause of Jonathan Butler and the Concerned Student 1950.

Finally, the erasure of first gen’rs from the predominantly white university could mean an athletic remigration of talent back to HBCU’s. The desegregation of athletics at predominantly white universities, severely impacted the talent pool and level of competition played at HBCU’s. For over 40 years, athletic programs at predominantly white universities have reaped the benefits of Black athletic talents. They have garnered multimillion surpluses, built multimillion dollar athletic stadiums, areas, and ancillary facilities, like practice fields and academic student service facilities for athletes disproportionately off the backs of Black athletic talent. The racial and social cleansing by the NCAA, could mean athletic remigration where this talent is invested in Black institutions; institutions that are able to invest in these student cultural and racial identities.

Billy Hawkins, Ph.D.

Professor

University of Houston

Super Bowl 2015 Venting: My Letter to Pete Carroll

Not to continue to beat the proverbial dead horse, that is, the last play of Super Bowl 2015. But damn it (I might need a few damns to get through this essay), I gotta vent. I have given myself a week to recover, but I still find myself having to vent. It’s my pain and it’s my pen that is my only safety valve in this situation. So here we go: the Seahawks had the ball on the half-yard line, trailing the Patriots by 4 points with 26 seconds to go in the game. Armed with one of the league’s best running backs in Marshawn Lynch, as well as one of the league’s most mobile quarterbacks in Russell Wilson a decision is made to throw the ball on 2^nd down. I hate to point a finger, but damn it, Pete Carroll, you blew the call and blew the game. This doesn’t take away from the fact that you are a great coach; one play can’t erase your many accomplishments. It doesn't take away the fact that under different circumstances this was a gutsy call. It doesn’t take away from the fact that I love your enthusiasm and the rapport you exhibit with your players, but this call is hard to digest. It definitely doesn’t take away the fact that you have 4 Black quarterbacks on the Seahawks’ roster – that’s amazing. So, I know you get it. However, you blew it man.

The most important reason I must vent is because the Seahawks, led by a young Black quarterback had the opportunity to make Black History during Black History month. As a race man, I can’t help but to see race in everything. I cheer for the Black coach, regardless of the team, and I definitely cheer for the Black quarterback. A team with a Black coach and a Black quarterback is a no brainer. I don’t care if they are 0-90, I am rooting for them. Thus, the racial connotations, symbolism, and ramifications of this game are monumental. I am sure you and your coaching staff, the majority of the players on either the Patriots or Seahawks, and players and administrators throughout the league for that matter, are oblivious to the racial significance of this game. Better yet, what about Super Bowl 2014, where you had a younger Russell Wilson going against the legendary Peyton Manning, the epitome of a NFL quarterback: white, intelligent (able to read defenses), pocket passer, general on the field, you know what I mean. Many probably missed the racial symbolism and empowerment where here comes this young Black Russell Wilson, not fitting the description of a Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or Eli Manning, but he leads his team to a Super Bowl victory. He also garnered a 10-0 record against Super Bowl quarterbacks, all of which are white. I think you get the point.

Pete Carroll and Seahawks offensive coaching staff I be damn if you are not supposed to guarantee a victory in this situation: 26 seconds on the clock, 2^nd and goal, ball on the half-yard line. I don’t care if you have beef with the non-media talking, skittles-eating, and anti-league conforming Marshawn Lynch and you didn’t want the victory obtained by the likes of this rebel. (Just a side note, Mr. Lynch, do you boss, I appreciate your activism and ownership of your expression). As I was saying, regardless, you were supposed to secure a victory in this situation. This victory would have been on the level of electing President Barack Obama, the second time; not the first time – no way – not the first time. It is hard to compare this to that monumental feat of putting a Black face in the highest place in this country and one of the highest and most powerful offices in the world – President of the United States of America. But it would have been on par with electing President Obama for a second term in office. History would have been made for a Black quarterback who in his 3^rd year in the NFL won back-to-back Super Bowls against future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

So, just in case you are ever in this situation again, highly unlikely but definitely possible, think about the broader social context and the socio-historical meaning that is attached to this game; think beyond its entertainment and commercial value. We are not in a post racial society, so race matters and whenever, a Black man is in a situation to make a symbolically empowering statement with his performance that is contrary to the norms, damn it, you gotta guarantee him this victory. My final reactions can be best captured in the words of Florida Evans of Good Times, “Damn, Damn, Damn!”

The Unionization of College Athletes

An excerpt of this appeared in NYT Room for Debate

National Labor Relations Board’s ruling that qualifies Northwestern football players as employees of the university and grants them the right to unionize is creating much debate around the issue of athletic reform in college athletics. I applaud the activism of these athletes to seek measures to obtain just treatment and a voice in the decision making process that impact their lives. It speaks to the sophistication and determination these modern day college athletes are willing to exhibit in order to bring about reform. This ruling is an example of their grassroots activism; the kind that is necessary to encourage athletic reform.

On the other hand, I am disappointed in the inertia of the NCAA, which has forced the hands of athletes to seek change and resolution externally. The NCAA efforts have been quite reactionary and defensive instead of proactive and visionary since the onslaught of cases that are challenging amateurism. Maybe their track record of losing in the lower courts and winning in the higher court is a tactical strategy they find successful. Maybe there are simply exhibiting “too big to fail” that is pervasive among corporations of this size.

I have mixed emotions about the application of this ruling because of the distance that exist between this ruling and the actual implementation of it. The process of appeals could go on for years before athletes actually benefit from having a union. Northwestern University officials have stated that they will appeal this decision. Until the development of a functional college players union, athletes will be enduring academic neglect and medical injuries that threatens their ability to be mentally and physically functional citizens.

Also, clearly there are pros (e.g., better wages, medical benefits, job security, etc.,) and cons (e.g., annual dues and fees, individuality, employee & employer collegiality, etc.) of having a union; however, I question whether this is the right methodology for college athletes; especially given the current configuration of college athletics, where there is no clear and definitive distinction between the athletes in revenue generating sports and non-revenue generating sports. Will a union be able to serve the values of both categories of college athletes? Finally, is reducing the power and governance of the NCAA in order to submit to another layer of governance and oversight of a union the plausible outcome? Further grassroots efforts should be directed at gaining a greater voice within the NCAA governing structure and making demands, by any means necessary, for long term health benefits, time to achieve a quality academic experience, and equitable economic compensation based on cost-of-living basic expenses.