Introduction
In the wake of people raising awareness of various social and political issues, there has been a debate regarding celebrities talking about them. This also involves athletes since, recently, they have started discussing various problems concerning modern society. While there are some people who think it is senseless for them to discuss those issues, there are reasons to believe that athletes have every right to explore and depict various social flaws and problems.
“Dear Athletes: Keep Your Politics Out Of Sports” Article
In the article, Dear Athletes: Keep Your Politics Out Of Sports, Senior Contributor to The Federalist Libby Emmons expresses her dislike for athletes discussing various issues and expressing their opinions on various causes. She states that since Tommie Smith and John Carlos demonstrated their views at the Mexico City Summer Olympics of 1968, the validity of athletes discussing various issues became a common topic for discourse (Emmons, 2021). This event, along with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee in 2016, has encouraged the author to reveal her opinion on the matter.
Throughout the article, Libby demonstrates negative feelings about athletes advocating for certain issues on the field. She believes that they should focus more on the game instead of getting their fans involved in situations the latter do not understand. The contributor states that athletes putting brief statements on their uniforms is a vague action and irrelevant to the event they attend (Emmons, 2021). Moreover, Simmons states that sportspeople have not been open about Republican views or problems like China’s annexation of Hong Kong (Emmons, 2021). While this statement may trigger a very interesting discussion, it is best to focus on the idea of athlete activism in general.
I do not agree with her viewpoint since I believe that everyone has the right to express their opinion on certain issues and problems that concern society. Undeniably, one should be unbiased and well-informed on a certain concern. However, it is also quite clear that athletes are public figures, and as public figures, they are rather influential and may affect how a certain issue is approached. The idea of sportspeople greatly influencing their fans and audience is, perhaps, one of Libby’s few points I support (Emmons, 2021). However, the other viewpoints, such as statements alienating the general audience and politics being irrelevant to sports events, are not entirely accurate. Thus, I consider most of the author’s opinions to be very flawed.
“George Floyd changed the world of athlete activism” Article
The second article, George Floyd changed the world of athlete activism, provides an in-depth and comprehensive review of how his death affected US sportspeople and why it mattered to them. It mentions that Floyd was previously an athlete himself, which made his colleagues resonate with him (Suddler, 2021). However, unfortunately, athletes tend to be more frequently targeted and questioned by police officers, as the latter profile them because of their features.
While athlete activism, as mentioned previously, is not a new phenomenon, the article states that it was not as common in the 20th century as it has become since the 2010s. The aforementioned profiling and the backlash against black activist athletes outweighed the possible positive outcomes (Suddler, 2021). However, with the rise of social media and societal awareness, the newer generations of athletes became more open about their views and started discussing those issues more frequently. The article is concluded with a quote by sociologist Harry Edwards, who emphasizes the value of the audience’s response to a black athlete’s words. This could possibly play a significant role in relations between races and athlete activism in general.
I agree with this article more, as it approaches the issue of athlete activism with a better understanding of the matter. Moreover, the article briefly touches on the history of black athlete activism while also explaining why it experienced a strong decrease from the 80s till the start of the 2010s (Suddler, 2021). The writers reference the Chauvin murder trial, cases of racial profiling that black athletes have experienced and how it has affected newer generations of athletes, encouraging them to raise awareness of the topic (Suddler, 2021). This accentuates the concerns the writer has for the depicted issue.
Other reasons why I find this article agreeable include it relying on valid sources instead of fearful musings based on the author’s opinion regarding athlete activism. Whenever the author does express fear in the text, it is supported by statistical data and real-life cases that validate their concern (Suddler, 2021). It is important to mention that the writer ensures that they approach the topic with the utmost sensitivity, helping the readers understand the problem better and commiserating with the outcomes of these cases.
“Athletes and activists: The same uniform” Article
The third article, Athletes and activists: The same uniform, provides a more broad depiction of how activism and sports correlate. It starts with depicting a case when a sportswoman named Allyson Felix experienced a 70% pay cut due to her pregnancy (Steel, 2021). Fortunately, the young woman succeeded in defending her rights, thus leading to a policy that guaranteed 18 paid months for pregnant female athletes instead of 12 (Steel, 2021). Thus, the athlete’s calls for justice helped improve the situation.
Just like the second article, it references George Floyd’s death as well. Alas, it states that for some athlete activists, their attempts at raising awareness resulted in negative outcomes, such as Colin Kaepernick’s, who is “now a free agent” (Steel, 2021). This moment further emphasizes how the topic of racism is avoided by American society. Unfortunately, this avoidance results in athletes facing backlash for being vocal about it.
The article is concluded with a significantly more positive moment. It depicts a famous athlete Carl Nassib coming out as gay (Steel, 2021). This resulted in his jersey being the highest-sold one during Pride Month (Steel, 2021). The text is concluded with an emphasis on the contrast between how activism in sports was perceived previously and how it is perceived nowadays. The final sentences are more optimistic and hopeful, making it clear that the author has faith in the future of activism in sports.
I find the third article to be the most optimistic compared to the previous two. While I understand that the writer seems very hopeful for the future, I think that their approach to the issue seems too naive (Steel, 2021). Nonetheless, I appreciate that the writer of the text, just like the person who wrote the previous one, has a sensitive and understanding way of depicting the issue. Unlike the contributor who posted the first article, the author of the third one is less prejudiced toward athletes partaking in activism.
Moreover, it seems that the writer glossed over the LGBT activism aspect of the article. Perhaps, they didn’t see themselves as well-informed enough to discuss how this topic may have affected athletes and sports in general (Steel, 2021). While it is clear that they are hopeful for the future of LGBT activism in sports, there is no denying that their depiction of feminism and anti-racist activism is more detailed.
However, there is no denying that the writer depicted the perception of anti-racist activism in sports significantly more groundedly. Considering the severity of anti-black racism, it is clear that it negatively affected the athletes who attempted to raise awareness of it (Steel, 2021). And fortunately, the author of the article reviewed this aspect in a more rational way, fully understanding the severity of the depicted issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I reviewed three different sources with various opinions on athletes expressing their opinions on political and social justice issues. The first article strongly disliked this phenomenon, as the writer believes that politics and sports are irrelevant to each other. The second text reviews how George Floyd’s death affected athletes and sparked an uprise in athletes promoting anti-racist activism. The third one provided a more broad depiction of how an athlete’s activism is perceived while being too optimistic by the end of the text. These opinions provide various approaches to the matter, with the second and third being more sensitive to the issue than the first. Thus, I gravitate more towards these sources than the text from The Federalist.
All three of the articles I reviewed have cemented my belief regarding the importance of activism in athletics. I believe that many people lack the context and knowledge to understand why it is so important. However, I do not support naive optimism regarding the matter either, as I find it just as damaging. Activism is a serious topic, regardless of who is discussing it. Thus, athletes, writers, and audiences should approach it with the utmost sensitivity while unlearning their biases against it.
Works Cited
Emmons, Libby.“Dear Athletes: Keep Your Politics out of Sports”The Federalist, 2020.
Steel, Alisa “Athletes and activists: The same uniform”.The Daily Californian, 2021.
Suddler, Carl. “George Floyd changed the world of athlete activism”The Washington Post, 2021.