InForty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete author William Rhoden's thesis is that today's black athletes are akin to pre-Civil War plantation slaves, because slavery had as much to do with power and control as it had to do with wealth.
The big-money sports in America–football, baseball, basketball–are owned and controlled almost exclusively by white men, and yet each has a disproportionately large percentage of black athletes. They are well paid, but they have no direct power over the current and future direction of these sports. More than that, they lack any real control over their roles within these sports.
The author supports his position with a well-researched and thoughtfully rendered survey of the history of the black athlete. From plantation-born jockeys and boxers of the early 19th century, to the NBA of Michael Jordan and Larry Johnson, Rhoden remains focused on prevailing structures of racism. He notes the accomplishments and frustrations of several well-known figures, including Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, and Willie Mays, as well as others who have faded from our collective memory. In doing so, he examines the damaging effects of what he calls the conveyor belt in the contemporary sports world, where children as young as 11 and 12 are pegged as prospects and viewed as potential sources of income through middle school, high school, and college.
O.J. Mayo is the latest example of the of this institutionalized system of oppression. Allegations have emerged that he earned thousands in gifts and cash during his one year college career at USC.
Yet the NCAA rakes in millions every year on the backs of so-called amateur athletes, while telling them that they’re getting the benefit of a free education, then giving them a rigorous schedule of games and practices that make it impossible for classes and studying to be a priority.
USC knew what they were getting when they signed Mayo, a one-and-done commodity who craved the bright lights of Southern California, but will claim ignorance of any knowledge of Mayo’s actions, and will likely avoid any NCAA sanctions.
But the real problem will continue to be ignored.
The topic of players getting handouts — particularly players from economically disadvantaged families, whose idea of prosperity is survival — is as old as sport itself. With so-called amateur basketball, we're talking about a system that evolved before any of us were born and will remain long after our days have expired.
This is how the system works:
Sports agents, aspiring to gain influence over a big-time player, tell their "runners" to find the right spot and squeeze. The runners cozy up to a family member or a friend of the player, then open a bank account in his or her name. Or maybe, in the fashion of the day, they start a charitable foundation. The goal is to set up access to cash. The money can be used to buy sneakers for the player one day, lease a car the next. The kid needs to supplement his wardrobe or pay a relative's rent? Done. Over time, it's easy for a college athlete to accumulate loot worth well into six figures. The dollars, devoid of diligent investigation, are presumably untraceable.
The player gets paid. The runner gets paid so the player can be paid. The agent gets paid if, indeed, he snags the client. And all the various professional entities know they will eventually be paid, as soon as the athlete starts to generate revenue for them.
So why cast O.J. Mayo to be the 'whipping boy' of a system everyone loves to decry about but no one is willing to work to change.
How can you shame him for being an unprofessional athlete when the world "professional sports" essentially perpetuates oppression upon him by agents, runner, and the dark underworld of recruiting.
'Wake Up!'
Yet the NCAA rakes in millions every year on the backs of so-called amateur athletes, while telling them that they’re getting the benefit of a free education, then giving them a rigorous schedule of games and practices that make it impossible for classes and studying to be a priority.
USC knew what they were getting when they signed Mayo, a one-and-done commodity who craved the bright lights of Southern California, but will claim ignorance of any knowledge of Mayo’s actions, and will likely avoid any NCAA sanctions.
But the real problem will continue to be ignored.
The topic of players getting handouts — particularly players from economically disadvantaged families, whose idea of prosperity is survival — is as old as sport itself. With so-called amateur basketball, we're talking about a system that evolved before any of us were born and will remain long after our days have expired.
This is how the system works:
Sports agents, aspiring to gain influence over a big-time player, tell their "runners" to find the right spot and squeeze. The runners cozy up to a family member or a friend of the player, then open a bank account in his or her name. Or maybe, in the fashion of the day, they start a charitable foundation. The goal is to set up access to cash. The money can be used to buy sneakers for the player one day, lease a car the next. The kid needs to supplement his wardrobe or pay a relative's rent? Done. Over time, it's easy for a college athlete to accumulate loot worth well into six figures. The dollars, devoid of diligent investigation, are presumably untraceable.
The player gets paid. The runner gets paid so the player can be paid. The agent gets paid if, indeed, he snags the client. And all the various professional entities know they will eventually be paid, as soon as the athlete starts to generate revenue for them.
So why cast O.J. Mayo to be the 'whipping boy' of a system everyone loves to decry about but no one is willing to work to change.
How can you shame him for being an unprofessional athlete when the world "professional sports" essentially perpetuates oppression upon him by agents, runner, and the dark underworld of recruiting.
'Wake Up!'
Links I got for this post:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3405148
http://www.blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/College_Basketball_21/Hold_the_Mayo.shtml
http://www.amazon.com/Forty-Million-Dollar-Slaves-Redemption/dp/0609601202
