Racism in Sport

The last few weeks I have personally realized how naïve I am, and how protected from the real world people have kept me.  From the outside looking in, I thought racism in sports and sports communication was a myth. But a simple google search proved that I was wrong, as well as all the protests held during NFL games during the2016-17 season.

In high school, I remember debating in English class about a dress code for sports players. Our high school required that student athletes dress up for game day. I interpreted everything as professional and a positive way to help bring attention to student athletes and encourage people to come to the game.  Maybe like a little free advertising.  Now days the high schoolhas a dress code to help prevent discrimination.

Now the dress code for the NBA has been updated and people view this dress code as discriminatory to black players. The changes noted to the public were in 2005 and now that it has been in effect for more than ten years people are loving and still hating the decision to make the NBA players wear certain clothes to games.

I like a dress code. To see businesses like the NBA makechanges to their dress code sets a standard for others to follow, under the guise of professionalism. It never entered my mind that a dress code could make people feel discriminated against.  When those changes were announced I didn’t realize that black players felt like they had been targeted in the wardrobe department. I personally took the change to mean players, played better who were mentally prepared to play the game and dressing to go to work made sense to me. I do better when I am properly dressed for the job. These reports were told to me by reporters that have a main stream audience that is mostly white.

Now after some research I learned I was wrong again. Players were dressing to protest poverty and status wearing personal clothing choices, and the dress code prevents players from bringing issues to the mainstream media just by how the player is dressed.

So is there a way to bring both the NBA and the players to a consensus? I don’t think this will ever have a “everybody is happy solution.” People argue that wearing a suit doesn’t prevent you from being a creep, or automatically mean people will trust you. People can still make bad choices wearing a suit as they can in jeans and a T-shirt. I do believe people will judge you by how you are dressed and the NBA wants to create an image that they want all their players to follow. I hope the dress code is revisited and people can have an open discussion and take all opinions into perspective as the NBA moves forward.   

After all our Constitution protects Freedom of Expression.