Race Remains 'Flashpoint of Controversy' in American Sports, Cultural Anthropologist Says
A new study about bias in NBA refereeing -- and the angry reaction of the league commissioner -- makes clear that race remains a flashpoint of controversy in American sports, says a Duke University cultural anthropologist who studies sports and society.
鈥淔ranchise owners and league officials in the multibillion-dollar sports business would like to present their sports as 21st century models of racial harmony and color-blind opportunity,鈥� said Orin Starn, a professor of cultural anthropology. 鈥淏ut, in reality, the dynamics of race and money are clear enough in professional basketball arenas and football coliseums nationwide, where the majority of the athletes are black and yet, because of expensive ticket prices, there are few African Americans in the stands.鈥�
Starn, who teaches a course on the anthropology of sports, said the NBA has been more progressive than other sports leagues about race, including a growing number of black coaches.
鈥淓very single NFL team has white ownership. Major League Baseball recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson鈥檚 breaking baseball鈥檚 color line, but the number of African-American players has declined steeply in recent years. And two of America鈥檚 largest sports -- NASCAR and golf -- have an even worse record. There is not a single black NASCAR driver and Tiger Woods is the lone African American among the more than 200 golfers on the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 professional tours.鈥�
And even though there has been an increase in the number of black NBA coaches and 60 percent of NBA players are black, only one franchise -- the Charlotte Bobcats -- has majority black ownership, Starn noted.
Starn said the fact that the NBA rushed to discredit the paper鈥檚 findings -- that subconscious racial bias could play a role in officiating -- makes it appear that Commissioner David Stern is 鈥渁fraid to open to the Pandora鈥檚 Box of race.鈥�
鈥淭he NBA would like the uncomfortable question of race in sports to vanish, as if it were just a matter of a few troublemaker academics getting the math wrong,鈥� Starn said. 鈥淚t won鈥檛 anytime soon.鈥�
Source: Duke University
