Observing Race in a Sports Event
The issue of racial diversity in sports has been a subject of intense debate in recent years. I had an opportunity to attend a basketball tournament organized by the University recently and noted that some races were underrepresented in this sport. The University’s student population is culturally diverse as the institution attracts people from all over the world. While most of the institution’s clubs, including the music program, are racially diverse, only a few races dominate the University’s basketball team. In this tournament, I noted that the predominant races in most of the teams were African American and Caucasian (Whites). In contrast, Asians, Hispanics, and Latinos were underrepresented in all the teams that took part in this tournament.
This lack of diversity can be blamed on many factors, including tough recruitment practices, talent, and mentorship. However, the main factor that drives African Americans and other minority groups into joining sports as professional players is economic empowerment. It can be argued that basketball allows minority groups to improve their present economic status as well as that of their family.
Although the lack of racial diversity in the University’s basketball team is apparent, few people seem to recognize it. The University has not taken concrete steps to create a balanced racial representation within the basketball team. Moreover, students from the underrepresented racial groups, such as Asian and Latino races, show indifference towards sports, particularly basketball. This may hamper the efforts of attaining a correct representation in sports. Although the University is a culturally diverse institution, racial diversity within sports organizations, especially basketball, is poor. The University is reputed for its strong science and engineering programs, and thus, only encourages diversity in these fields. The University’s basketball association has not taken steps to attract the other groups, which implies that it does not perceive diversity as lacking in basketball.
During this tournament, I noted that the interaction amongst the players was not influenced by race or skin color. The players, both whites and African Americans, worked as a team with a common goal of emerging victorious. This common interest tended to blur the line between the two races. It seemed to me that the player’s athletic skills and talent were more important than his ethnic background. In the field, the players cooperated well and even hugged each other after the interval. It was evident that they were indifferent to each other’s racial identity. Even the team’s jubilant supporters were from different races.
Racial diversity has many benefits. It introduces new ways of doing things, which increases a group’s productivity. Besides the economic benefits, diversity in groups enhances relations amongst the different races in modern social institutions. However, racial diversity can also be the source of social problems such as crime. In the American context, it is difficult to control poor, disorganized, and racially differentiated neighborhoods because such areas are demographically complex. Racial diversity is also a source of conflict, especially in the workplace. Diversity creates an in-group/out-group mentality that results in conflicts, which reduces organizational performance. In contrast, racially similar groups are less prone to conflicts compared to ethnically differentiated groups. Besides, ethnically homogeneous groups are more cohesive because there is no racial categorization that may derail performance or create conflicts. However, racially homogeneous groups are more prone to intergroup conflicts than heterogeneous ones.