Race should have no socially, meaningful use in sports performance on the field or on the sidelines!! Colleges miss out by not giving more leadership opportunities to minorities. For example, just look at the success of MAC Champion winning coach, Turner Gill, and Super Bowl winning coach, Mike Tomlin.
A biologist at Yale University has recently stated: "Race has no biological reality. The human species simply does not come packaged that way."
But, science aside... Why do those with the lightest skin make up 83% percent of male college sports and 87% percent of female college sports, while only taking up 74% of the total American population? And, why do only 4 African-American head coaches exist in a total of 119 Division I College football programs, when 54 percent of the players on those teams are minorities (with 50 percent of those players being African-American)?!
Even though science might not see skin color as important, apparently society does... So, why have people chosen skin color as a socially meaningful trait, and what are the difficulties in using skin color to classify all the people of the world into races?
According to research by Hochschild & Weaver (2007), skin color is a socially meaningful trait because, more often than not, skin color is associated with an individuals' preferences as well as their outcomes. In non-scientific speak, using skin color is socially meaningful because it saves time; a person can make sense of another person and get from point A to B, as quickly as possible, without doing the leg work of actually getting to know that person. As an outcome indicator, it also can be used with other factors to determine future house and wallet size. As according to Hochschild & Weaver (2007), in terms of outcomes, lighter skinned individuals are stereotyped as more economically and educationally advantaged and thus more likely to have a brighter future than others. And, in terms of preferences, according to Hochschild & Weaver (2007), most Americans (light skinned or not) prefer those with lighter skin color compared to those individuals with darker skin, with only some exceptions.
But, with time is skin color becoming less socially meaningful and less of a determinent of outcomes? And, is a certain skin color even actually preferred? Hochschild & Weaver's findings on lighter skin being preferred by most Americans, doesn't touch upon the fact that so many younger, lighter skinned individuals like to artificially tan these days. This link states that 25% percent of college students are addicted to tanning and a darker skinned perfection that they cannot usually reach. Further, according to Bagdasarov, Banerjee, Greene, & Campo (2008), younger people perceive those with tanned skin as more attractive. And, in terms of politics, the younger generation appears not as concerned with skin color; as college students were a boon to electing the first African-American president, Barack Obama. Further, the favored music of a good portion of American youth (no matter the skin color), is the African-American dominated hip-hop. However, currently Hochschild & Weaver (2007), believe that a preference for fairer complexion can be seen in the work of film-makers, novelists, advertisers, modeling agencies, matchmaking websites, and etc. Most of these companies have presidents and leaders who come from an older generation, where skin color had more importance. Thus, since the older generation are mainly the decision makers at companies and sports organizations, these preferences lead to stereotypes and missed opportunities for all backgrounds, including those who would appear more advantaged.
If race is a myth then why is it such a big deal in this country?
Race is a major issue in American society because of our past and our present. Race was a major issue in the past because of European settlers destruction of Native American society and life. Further, Caucasians also made Africans slaves in this country. Today, that issue continues between all Americans and Latinos who come to America (sometimes illegally) and in some American opinions, to take jobs. Racial issues also occur today with the stereotyping of Middle Eastern people as terrorists.
How is race used to explain performance in sports?
Based on performance on the field, some come to the conclusion that African-Americans are better at sports such as basketball, track, and football. While Latinos are better at soccer. And, Caucasians are better at hockey, golf, and being the coach and quarterback. However, this is more cultural, and not based on an actual jumping gene, or a natural athletic gene, or a natural coaching gene (C. Higgs, personal communication, 11/16/09).
Therefore, overall, the major issue with these stereotypes in sports is that it shuts out certain individuals from a position or a sport based on their race. A good example of this is minorities coaching the top sports. As according to Hochschild & Weaver (2007), darker skin is equated to being poorer and less educated, this thus sometimes disqualifies the most qualified who are bypassed because of these ridicoulous stereotypes. In relation to sports, this is especially the case in college football; where African-American coaches are under-represented on the sidelines. Giving credence to a viewpoint that those with power in college sports (an older generation) believe that blacks are less qualified to coach. Additionally, according to blackpower.com, many college universities and their rich white supporters don’t care what the Black Coaches Association and the BCA's report card thinks about their respective university's hiring procedure. This is leading to missed opportunities for these universities, as they lessen their field of perspective coaches by half.
Therefore, in reality those who look at skin color in sports are actually hurting themselves. Just look at the success of minority coaches in the NFL, such as Super Bowl Champion winning, Steelers Coach, Mike Tomlin, and the success of minority coaches in college football, such as MAC Champion winning, University of Buffalo coach, Turner Gill. Possibly, these African-American coaches, who were successful African-American athletes, can relate better to the majority of their teams (and the majority of their starters) who are African-American. But, even if that is the case, their receiving of the job (same as white coaches) should be based on their experience and not the fact that they are white like most of the adminstrators or they are black like most of the players. It should be based on personal talent, ability, experience, and personality.
CONCLUSION: Skin color should have no socially, meaningful use in or out of sport.
In conclusion, skin color should have no socially, meaningful use because it hinders the ability to judge someone based on their own personal ability. Also, most of the times, our stereotypes based on skin color are completely incorrect, just try this link, I only got 5 out of 20 right. Further, today, it is also almost impossible to actually tell the background of some people. Just look at Tiger Woods who refers to himself as "Cablinasian" standing for caucasian, black, indian, asian (C. Higgs, personal communication, 11/16/09). Therefore, what is even the point of classifying anyone as anything else other than just a human being? As skin color stereotyping can get in the way of finding those who are the most qualified to win Super Bowl trophies, those who can lead a business away from bankruptcy and bailout, or even those most capable to lead this country.
Scholarly Links:
Bagdasarov, Z., Banerjee, S., Greene, K., & Campo, S. (2008). Indoor tanning and problem behavior. Journal of American College Health, 56(5), 555-562. Retrieved from: http://navigator-sru.passhe.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=31594828&site=ehost-live
Hochschild, J. & Weaver, V. (2007). The skin color paradox and the american racial order. Social Forces, 86(2), 643-670. Retrieved from: http://navigator-sru.passhe.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mth&AN=28056482&site=ehost-live
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