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On the stereotype of black athletic superiority - and the racist underlying assumptions of it
The following excerpt from Sport: Sport and power relations by Eric Dunning was very informative to me, and I believe this knowledge can help debunk the pervasive essentialist views of black people being "innately better at sports" than other racial groups.
The factors underlying black athletic superiority emerge from a complex of societal conditions. These conditions instill a heightened motivation among black male youths to achieve success in sports; thus, they channel a proportionately greater number of talented black people than whites into sports participation. Our best sociological evidence indicates that capacity for physical achievement (like other common human traits such as intelligence, artistic ability, etc.) are evenly distributed throughout any population. Thus, it cuts across class, religious, and, more particularly, racial lines. For race, like class and religion, is primarily a culturally determined classification. The simple fact of the matter is that the scientific concept of race has no proven biological or genetic validity. As a cultural delineation, however, it does have a social and political reality. This social and political reality of race is the primary basis of stratification in this society and the key means of determining the priority of who shall have access to means - valued goods and services.
Blacks are relegates in this country, having the lowest priority to claiming valued goods and services. This fact, however, does not negate the equal and proportionate distribution of talent across both black and white populations. Hence, a situation arises wherein whites, being the dominant group in the society, have access to all means toward achieving desirable valuables defined by the society. Blacks, on the other hand, are channeled into the one or two endeavors open to them - sports and, to a lesser degree, entertainment.
Blacks are relegates in this country, having the lowest priority to claiming valued goods and services. This fact, however, does not negate the equal and proportionate distribution of talent across both black and white populations. Hence, a situation arises wherein whites, being the dominant group in the society, have access to all means toward achieving desirable valuables defined by the society. Blacks, on the other hand, are channeled into the one or two endeavors open to them - sports and, to a lesser degree, entertainment.
Dunning, E. (2003). Sport: Sport and power relations (Vol. 3), p. 15. Taylor & Francis.
Bolding mine.
I would also add that the stereotype of black people (specifically, black men) being naturally superior to white people at sports is fundamentally a deeply racist one, despite it appearing to be a "positive" stereotype regarding black men. After all, is this stereotype not disturbingly similar to the popular (and also, deeply racist) assumption that black men are sexually superior to white men (both physically and in terms of sexual performance)?
What these supposedly "positive" racial cliches are really about is that the extent of black talent - and the associated skills that go along with that talent - is basically, limited entirely to the physical realm. To put it in blunt, crude terms, the underlying assumption is that black people are "too stupid/intellectually inferior" to white people for any black person to be good for anything other than purely physical tasks. Consider the fact that the people in positions of actual power and authority in sports - in the case of football, quarterbacks, but even more so (and this applies to all professional sports), the coaches, managers, and owners of sports teams - are mostly white men, and by a considerable majority.
The deeply ingrained assumption of white society that black people are only good at physical labor has been used to justify keeping them enslaved, barring them from both leadership positions and jobs that require more specialized skills (both fields of work in which the people who work in them are rewarded with higher incomes, benefits, security, power, prestige, etc.), and otherwise placing draconian restrictions on the life paths on which black people can travel.
The good news is that, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, many occupations, vocations, and other career paths that were previously denied to black people have opened up to them. The bad news is that our society's deeply ingrained traditions of racism and white supremacy continue to thwart even the best efforts of black people (and their allies among other people of color as well as those white people who "get it"
for equality and justice becoming realities - meaning, we still have one hell of an uphill battle ahead of us. Let us hope, pray, and hold on to any optimism that we might have that our society will one day be radically transformed for the better - if in our lifetimes, then perhaps in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren.
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