Black Athletes Crossing the River Jordan

Charles Barkley famously said "I am not a role model." This came at a time when professional athletes were trending away from social responsibility. For Black athletes Barkley's comments were a departure from social responsibility. Since sports became national phenomena Black athletes have made their voices heard on social and political issues of the day. We can trace this back as far as Moses "Fleetwood" Walker. Walker was the first Black man, to play professional baseball in the United States. Though an extremely talented baseball player Walker was also a scholar having studied at the University of Michigan Law School. After his playing days Walker presented an essay that espoused Marcus Garvey's cries for Black Nationalism and even called for Africa for the Africans as the best way to solve the United State's race problems.

With the topic of race and baseball, the name Jackie Robinson is going to inevitably be mentioned. As race neutral as Robinson sought to stay, even he involved himself in politics and fighting for the poor at the end of his career. However, we can really see Black athletes starting to flex their collective power in the late 1960's. Understanding this may have been one of the most militant periods for Black Americans, we can see how this decade would provide fertile ground for athletic activism. During this period we see the creation of the Negro Economic and Industrial Union. This was an organization started by Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell. The purpose of this organization was to provide funding to aspiring Black business who would get denied Bank loans because they were Black.

Funding Black business may have been their intention but one of their greatest moments was standing in solidarity with Muhammad Ali in his 1967 refusal to fight in the Vietnam war. Here today Black politicians are often on the losing end of the "love my country" debate, so it must be easy to imagine the sacrifice stars such as Russell and Abdul-Jabbar were making. Their sacrifice still may not measure up to John Carlos and Tommie Smith's Olympic defiance. While accepting their gold and bronze medals at the 1968 Summer Olympic games, Carlos and Smith walk to the podium without their shoes but with Black socks. As the flag of the United States raised and the star spangled banner played, both men, bowed their heads and raised a clenched fist in the air. They donned Black gloves over their fist. The men made a statement of Black power to protest what was happening in the nation at the time but the men lost all future endorsement deals because of their actions.

This brings us back to Charles Barkley and his good friend Michael Jordan. Both of these men came to fame in the Reagan/Bush era. This is a period when the people of the United States were at their most individualistic. People lost the sense community that tied groups together in the 60's and 70's. This sense of community had been so vital to the Black community in making many of the gains that were made during that time. It appeared that extremely lucrative contracts won out over potential benefit to the collective. The individualist, materialistic approach was brought to a head when Michael Jordan refused to endorse a progressive Black Senate candidate who sought to take the seat from conservative (and in many Blacks opinion openly racist) Jesse Helms. When asked why he wouldn't support Helms' opponent Jordan infamously quipped "republicans buy sneakers too."

Many think today's' athletes to be cut from the same self-serving, money before community ilk as Jordan was. Some cite Lebron James' refusal to sign a petition condemning China for their complicity in the Darfur genocides. People suspect he won't do this because shoe titan Nike does a great deal of business in China, and James signed a $90 million dollar deal to endorse Nike tennis shoes. However what many people aren't aware of is the work athletes like Dikembe Mutombo have done. Mutombo has built and primarily paid for a $29 million dollar hospital in his home of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even more are unaware of pro football player Ed Reed and how his Eye of the Hurricane Foundation has rebuilt houses that were entirely destroyed during Hurricane Katrina, only so the family that was originally living there could return. Reed is doing this at no cost to the victims of the hurricane. What may be most encouraging, is NBA star Baron Davis' response when told that his community and political involvement would cost him corporate sponsorship. Davis replied "who gives a sh*t." To know there are athletes once again recognizing their kinship with the community gives us all hope that Black athletes are on their way to safely crossing the river Jordan.