Sports Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sports - Essay Example For example, the 100 Metres race is known to be dominated by black people. White people shy away from it because they assume that they do not have the energy to run as fast as the blacks do. On the other hand, white people dominate swimming more than the black people do. White people are known to spend most of their time in water. This creates the perception to blacks that whites are best at swimming, and other races in the sport cannot replace them. This essay will explain the effects of race in sports, and how it affects the performance of participants in different fields of sports. Most people and participants know the effect of race on sports. In various universities in the USA, there are certain sports that are mostly practised only by people of a certain racial identity. This has a lot to do with the economic condition of people who belong to the African American community; which is historically underprivileged also due to preconceived notions and prejudices. There are many rea sons for this, the primary one being the historical one where they had access to formal education for a short period due to slavery. Even today, there are many prejudices that are associated with race in the minds of people of all races. Sport is seen as one of the main ways African youths can escape the poverty of the places they were born. For the eradication of such beliefs, education is considered as the best remedy. People like Booker T. Washington (Washington, 2006) also suggested this. There are, however, problems that have occurred during the implementation of this policy. Many African Americans secure admissions to good colleges because of their skills in sports, and this often makes them to neglect other aspects like their education. Due to the oppressive circumstances, they have to go through; many see this as the only avenue that is open. This discussion is about those sections of the African American community that is economically underprivileged, and not those that hav e achieved a high social status in their lives. The importance of this difference must be understood, and affirmative governmental action should be taken to account for the differences that are engendered by class distinctions, while at the same time being aware of the handicaps that racial oppression has created in the society. Interest in sports has also to do with history and the challenge that the African American community took up for attempting to rival the other races that had oppressed them for long. Sadly, this took on the form of a machismo that had the corollary of leading to the oppression of African American women at the hands of African American men. It is important to look at this lack of strategic essentialism, in an analysis of the importance of sports in the development of certain unhealthy social trends amongst people of the African American community. Sport has led to the achievement of many laurels for the United States of America. However, it has led to the pol arisation of several communities based on essentials that has stemmed from historic stereotypes and inequalities. In Stuck in the shallow End: â€Å"Education, Race, and Computing, UCLA researcher† Margolis Jane outlines the history of swimming in the USA to show how blacks have been affected by inadequate access to swimming facilities and lessons. She asserts â€Å"In most cases of discrimination, typecasts and systems of beliefs about dissimilar ethnic gender groups genetic makeup and