Why Athletes Should Get Political

As Week 4 in the NFL is upon us, perhaps it is a good time to reflect on the collision of sports and politics. While overall there was praise and support for the NFL’s reaction to Trump’s declarations regarding firing players for taking a knee—alas we now have the #taketheknee to show solidarity on social media—one of the reactions that was consistently being reported regarding fans was that they were resentful of their favorite pastime being politicized. Sports is their escape, the argument went, and they were angered that the president’s attacks and the NFL’s show of solidarity and stand against Trump was muddying their entertainment and launching football into the sphere of politics.

Wait, so sports should be viewed and enjoyed in a vacuum, separate from politics? To which I say to sports fans: are you totally ignorant of the history of your sport of choice? Sports and politics are no more separate spheres than declaring “separate but equal” spaces for races in the time of segregation enabled racial equality. For instance, race and sports has a long and complicated place in our history, as does gender and sports, given that historically professional sports teams were both exclusively white and male. Indeed, as scholar on African American Studies Gerald Early reflects, “The division of baseball in this country by race is explicitly, self-evidently political,” (as quoted by Chotiner, 2017, para 7) a reality that existed in professional baseball in the United States until the end of WWII (an irony in and of itself given that Hitler in part looked to the American practice of unequal treatment of blacks as a partial model for the racial ideology he would develop that would ultimately lead to the Final Solution against the Jews).

Some of the most prominent activists for racial equality and advocates for other forms of social justice have also emerged from sports—perhaps Muhammad Ali being the most obvious historical example of this. The 1936 Olympics that were hosted by Hitler and the Nazi regime in Berlin was explicitly used by the Reich to promote their propaganda. In fact, although it ultimately ended up failing, there was a movement in the United States and Europe to boycott the games, which has carried over to future Olympics when the host cities have had questionable human rights records. In fact, “choosing not to attend the Olympics is one of the most popular and simple ways to make a big international political statement” (Fuller, 2014, para 6).

The platform that athletes have today, especially in an age of social media, is a large one. One could make the argument that it is part of their responsibility as members of society to not only use that platform to cultivate a brand to promote themselves but to also serve their larger communities and use the attention they generate for a greater purpose. When Colin Kaepernick originally took a knee during the National Anthem last season, he was following a long line of athletes who have used their positions to further social justice and bring a spotlight on issues of importance that yes, will often take them into the political realm.

I don’t know about other football fans, but for me, I am far more likely to respect a player like Kaepernick for his quiet protest that has incited a much larger dialogue about race relations in America that is much needed, than those players who cash their million dollar checks or endorsement deals and stay silent even as the culture they embody and are celebrated in is desperate for strong voices that promote positive social change and justice.

So kneel on, I say, and for those fans who admonish the protesters for “contaminating” their favorite pastime with politics I say to you—wake up, sports has always had a political edge to it. Especially in the age of Trump, one could argue that more and more spaces have become politicized. So for those of you who see nothing worthy of kneeling for, it probably also means that you will stand for everything.

Copyright Azadeh Aalai 2017