New York Times sports columnist says professional black athletes are relatively powerless, despite high incomes
By: Jake Uitti
New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden questioned the role black athletes are playing in the sports world during a talk at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School on Monday.
He argued that black athletes are still relatively powerless, despite their high incomes.
Mr. Rhoden, who is the author of "$40 Million Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete," said the progress that has been made since the times of slavery really isn’t as vast as some people might think.
"Walk through the front office (of a sports franchise)," Mr. Rhoden said, "and see how many people are there in a position of control and power. See how they look."
Mr. Rhoden, who has been a sports columnist for The New York Times since 1983, said equality isn’t necessarily a question of money; rather it is a question of power.
"That was one of the first story lines of the book the quest for power. Who’s got it?" he said.
During his work as a sports journalist, Mr. Rhoden, whose book has appeared on The New York Times list of best sellers, said he has seen a lot of events and covered a lot of games. It was his experience as a journalist that led him to write his book, which took eight arduous years to complete, he said.
"The completion of this book was very inspiring," he said, "but there were parts of it that we also very depressing. … I guess I never really understood the magnitude, the depth and breath of racism, how it permeates everything."
Mr. Rhoden said he covered the Ohio State-Michigan football game in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday with about 100,000 people in attendance. There were about 80 people in the press box, he said, two of whom were black.
"Yet we’re covering the game on the field where about 90 percent of the teams are black," he said.
Mr. Rhoden argued that sports can effect change worldwide because it captivates a large audience. As a result, the best athletes hold a significant amount of power. The fact that so many people look to sports figures as role models could lead to some positive change, he said, and the gap between those with power and those without could be narrowed.
The way to narrow that gap, he argued, is by organization.
"Athletes represent the largest core of young black people, other than maybe rappers," he said. "How much would it mean if a guy like Lebron James said he couldn’t do interviews unless there were more black reporters there?"
He added, "As long as you’re dealing with crumbs, you’ll never have a whole loaf."
In his book, Mr. Rhoden criticizes former Chicago Bulls basketball superstar Michael Jordan. Born in 1963, Mr. Jordan is an example of the fruits of the civil rights movement, Mr. Rhoden said.
"Jordan is a map of where African Americans have been, and where they might be headed," he said.
But Mr. Jordan is publicly neutral, despite his bank account and his potential to organize masses of people with his celebrity, Mr. Rhoden said.
"There is a potential to lead people," he argued. By just getting a few powerful athletes and leaders together, hospitals could be built, Mr. Rhoden said.
"(They) could buy up Harlem, in partnership with other black professionals, black millionaires," he said. "The problem I had with Michael and I think Michael is a wonderful guy, very down to earth is what do you do in terms of continuity in terms of this struggle for freedom. What do you do? Who do you inspire? What do you do on the national stage?"
He added, "What if Martin (Luther King Jr.) said his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at a barbecue?"
Mr. Rhoden cited the 1968 Summer Olympics where American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists and bowed their heads to pay tribute to the black struggle in America after winning their race a gesture, Mr. Rhoden said, that exiled them from the world of Olympic sports.
"When I saw Smith and Carlos do that, I said, ‘Damn, that’s heroic,’" Mr. Rhoden said.
Despite encountering a lot of depressing history during the course of writing his book, Mr. Rhoden said it finishes with a touch of hope.
"This is a state of mind," he said. "You can always change your mind."

