Sports play a role in Black Lives Matter (BLM)

Critically analyse the role that sport and sport stars have played in Black Lives Matter and other movements for racial justice.

In the UK, sports are rife with racism, discrimination, and prejudice against people with a dark skin tone and individuals from other ethnic minority groups. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a racial justice movement that advocates for civil disobedience that is nonviolent in protest against police brutality and all forms of racial violence against people of black descent. Sports stars in the UK, including Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, and Wilfred Zaha, among many others, have played a role in support of the BLM movement. The stars have tried to raise awareness of incidents of racial abuse and also the stereotypical coverage of black athletes by the British media. The paper will analyse the role that sport and sports stars have played in Black Lives Matter and other movements for racial justice. Additionally, the paper will use theories such as anti-black, multiculturalism, white supremacy and colourism.

Sports play a role in Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other movements of racial justice. Sporting activities and sporting arenas in the UK provide a platform through which BLM and racial justice movements can highlight and advocate crucial racial issues. Farrington (2017) suggests that sports are not purely about physical competition but are an essential symbolic space through which concepts and ideas such as the struggles of black people for liberty and freedom, civic rights and cultural recognition are operational. In this regard, sporting activities provide an arena to enable BLM and other racial justice movements to display and mediate their racial ideas (Hylton, 2015). Michael Holding, the cricket legend made an impassioned plea for his life to be considered as a person with equal value to other members of the society. An emotional Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent, the first black female international cricketer, shared their experiences of racism ahead of England’s first Test against West Indies (Bull , 2020). Millions of people viewed the video of the two telling their racial experiences and addressing the importance of movements such as Black Lives Matter across the world on social media. The sharing of the video thereby indicates that sports and sports stars such as the two cricketers create a platform for movements such as BLM and other racial justice movements to create awareness on racial issues arising in the UK. Additionally, sports stars such as Raheem Sterling, the Manchester City player took to his Instagram account to raise the concern of stereotypical coverage of black athletes by the British media. The athlete dismissed the incident where a Chelsea fan racially abused him during a match but focused on blaming the British media for assisting in fuelling aggressive behaviour and racism that is evident among football fans (Guardian Sport, 2020).

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Sports careers and fields have traditionally been an avenue for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) participation in the UK. In this regard, multiculturalism has been evident in sports in the UK because there has been the presence of several distinct racial, cultural and ethnic groups in sporting activities. The proportion of British Premier League players from the BAME demographic has more than doubled since the season of 1992-1993. The percentage of BAME players was 16.5% twenty-five years ago but had increased to 33% on the opening day of 2017-2018 season (Evans et al., 2020). This citation does not related sentence- source even does not related BAME rates also this source critically does not show any numerical data.

In this regard, sports have provided an avenue for inclusivity as players of diverse ethnic groups become united in various sporting activities and also in sports arenas as fans watching their favourite players in the field. However, Armenia et al. (2019) indicate that 25% of the players in the Premier League are black, but there is a significant misrepresentation of blacks in the boardroom. Only 6 managers are from the BAME demographic in the UK with only 1 in the top flight. Same it does not have numercial data and also I really can not under stand where this highlught sentence coming from.  Additionally, there is just one BAME football director, Les Ferdinand at Queens Park Rangers and 1 owner, chief executive or chairman, Ben Robinson at Burton Albion. Despite the misrepresentation, sports in the UK has had a socialising and educational effect which has made it a platform for social integration and intercultural dialogue (Tartak, 2019). BLM and other racial justice movements in the UK have promoted participation in sports among people of ethnic minorities and immigrants as it helps them to better integrate into society.

Sports careers have traditionally been and venue for not only Blacks and other ethnic minorities’ participation but also economic empowerment with over 70% of National Football League (NFL) players being people of colour (POC) and more than National Basketball Association (NBA) players being POC (Bell, 2018) – even does not mentioned economic empower of sports – of course there have no numerical NBA and NFL data . Additionally, Rankin-Wright et al. (2019) suggest that the disproportionately high representation of black players in the NFL and NBA has been a source of social and economic power for blacks – Same even does not mentioned economic empower of sports – of course there have no numerical NBA and NFL data. The NBA Board of Governors will contribute $300 million over a decade in funding to BLM and the economic empowerment of black people. The funds will be contributed by 30 team owners who will contribute $30 million annually for the next ten years (Landis, 2020) – this source will change by myself. Additionally, Jrue Holiday, Lebron James and 37 other sports stars are funding BLM and other racial justice movements. Jrue Holiday, the New Orleans Pelican’s star guard and Lauren, his wife and a former player for the National Women’s soccer team of the U.S recently pledged the $5.3 million to fund BLM and establishing a social justice fund. Moreover, Lebron James has donated $2.5 million to BLM organisations. Furthermore, Michael Jordan has committed to donating $100 million to BLM and other organisations that are dedicated to fighting racial inequality (Landis, 2020). Additionally, an organisation established in England in 1993 known as “Kick It Out” and formerly as “Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football”, uses football to promote inclusivity and equality. The organisation is a charity that enables people to donate to BLM and other racial justice movements and fund the fight against racial discrimination against anyone who watches, plays or works in football (Agergaard, 2018). Additionally, numerous sports athletes have provided financial support to BLM and other movements of racial justice.   -I feel like this sentence does not seem to link with previous sentence. Also, Agergaard, 2018 source does not even mention football, obiviosuly, not Kick it out comapain. I want you to rewrite highlight sentence using by new sources.

Sports teams and sports stars provide moral support to BLM and other movements of social justice. The Premier League showed its solidarity with BLM by replacing names of players with a writing of “Black Lives Matter” on their shirts’ backs for the season’s first 12 matches and a badge of BLM on all the players’ shirts until the end of the campaign (Moore, 2020). Moreover, Sean Dyche, the manager of Burnley F.C. and his staff knelt in support of the BLM campaign before the match between Burnley and Manchester City at Etihad Stadium (Wood, 2020). Additionally, Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback, knelt when the United States  national anthem was being played in to show support for BLM. The quarterback further took a knee throughout the NFL season to protest against police brutality, systemic oppression and racial injustice which are among the core issues raised by the BLM movement (Schmidt, Frederick, Pegoraro, & Spencer , 2019). Sports play a significant role in the creation of a multi-ethnic Britain. The Premier League, the most popular domestic TV product in sports placed a “No Room for Racism” patch on the shirts of players to warn against racism and also support racial injustice victims (Clarke, 2020). Moreover, Harry Kane took a knee in support for BLM and said that Premier League players should continue kneeling for BLM as it is educational to the global audience. The player further said that millions of people around the world watch the Premier League, and kneeling would assist in raising awareness of the negative effects of colourism (Clarke, 2020). Additionally, Kane’s England teammates, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling have done a lot of campaign, charity and community work in support of BLM.

Sports and sports stars in the UK promote multiculturalism and the creation of a multi-ethnic Britain, which is among the causes of movements of social justice in the country (Ince et al., 2017).- this citation is about social media BLM rather than sport and sports Multiculturalism in the UK. Moreover, Evans et al., (2020) suggest that sports in the UK unites millions of people of different sex, colour, religion, age, or gender and thus plays an essential role in the formation of an inclusive society. Sports ranging from the local to the national and international level entails physical competition as well as embracing leisure supports the participation, inclusion and integration of people belonging to various ethnic minority groups (Cox, 2017)- citation does not related sentence, the citation mentioned about how does social media effect to MLB .However, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) research findings on discrimination, exclusion and racism in different sports reveal that there is still more to be done to support social inclusion and diversity in sports (Sport England, 2020) – it does not related that highlight sentence.  Moreover, the Premier League demonstrated its solidarity with BLM and support for a multi-ethnic Britain by replacing names of players with a writing of “Black Lives Matter” on their shirts’ backs for the season’s first 12 matches and a badge of BLM on all the players’ shirts until the end of the campaign – this sentence repeat from previous sentence, I want you to rewrite new link sentence by using new sources. Jermaine Jenas, the former England, Spurs and Newcastle midfielder supported the promotion of a multi-ethnic Britain and stated that the number of black coaches should be increased  (Moore, 2020) – I will change myself. The sports star stated that ethnic diversity should be implemented at the hiring level of management at the top football clubs in the British Premier League.

Sports provide a setting for prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping and exclusion for people of black African descent (Hylton, 2015). Kick It Out, the watchdog of football racism reported a 53% increase in racial abuse incidents against people of black African descent between the 2018-2019 season and the 2019-2020 season (Philips, J., 2020).- I will change myself. The black Ivory Coast and Crystal Palace footballer, Wilfred Zaha claimed that he is racially abused numerously on the football pitch. In this regard, sports in the UK provide a setting for anti-black racism to thrive which is one of the main causes that the Black Lives Matter movement, and other movements of racial justice are fighting against (Moore, 2020). – replace another source, actually, I want you to rewrite new related new stance by using new sources.  A report from Sport England indicates that 83% of people from black people in British sports have experienced discrimination and only 8% claiming that the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. Moreover, a research conducted by Sporting Equals, the UK’s charity for racial diversity and equality in sports found that while most of the racism against blacks was covert, 37% claimed that they had experienced overt racism on the pitch from an opposition teammate or player (Coxwell, 2020).

Colourism is evident in sports in the UK. There has been discrimination and prejudice against people with a dark skin tone and also individuals from other ethnic minority groups. The Council of Europe Convention against Spectator Violence has stated that colourism and intolerance are still rife in sports (De Genova, 2018) – I will change myself. For instance, Raheem Sterling recently faced racial abuse from a fan of Chelsea. The fan abused Sterling when he retrieved the ball from the Harding stand when Chelsea was playing with Man City (Guardian Sport, 2020). However, the sports star did not blame the fan but rather criticised the British media for its stereotypical coverage of black and white athletes. Sterling used the example of the coverage of teammates Phil Foden, a white, and Tosin Adarabioyo, a black by the Daily Mail, which is the second-largest tabloid in the UK. Adarabioyo  was criticized by the Tabloid for spending 2.5 million pounds to purchase the house, but the publication dubbed Foden a star and applauded him for spending 2 million pounds for a home for his mother (Fifield, 2018). The star who is an ardent supporter of the BLM movement blamed the British Media for fuelling aggressive behaviour and colourism that is evident among football fan. Gender intersectionality is also evident in sports in the UK where multiple forms of discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality, class and disability overlap and interact with one another and shape how ethnic minority groups experience discrimination in sports (Hobbs, 2019).

White supremacy is evident in sports in the UK. There is the belief that white people are should dominate society because they are a superior race. The belief is detrimental to other racial groups because it results in the exclusion of other minority ethnic or racial groups, particularly black people (Van Dijk, 2015). White supremacy is one of the main causes that the BLM movement is fighting against. Extreme measures are being undertaken in the UK to intimidate people of black African descent, as was evident in the Etihad Football Stadium during the match between Manchester City’s against Burnley (Clarke, 2020). A few minutes just after the both team players had knelt to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, a banner of White Lives Matter was flown over the stadium. Additionally, white supremacy is evident in the hiring level of management at the top football clubs in the British Premier League (Rankin-Wright, Hylton , & Norman, Negotiating the coaching landscape: Experiences of Black men and women coaches in the United Kingdom, 2019). Jermaine Jenas, the former Newcastle, England and Spurs midfielder stated that black football coaches had limited opportunity in the UK.  – I can not understand this kind of inforatmation can use without sources, can you rewrite the new sentence by using sources?. Additionally, the England Rugby Football (RFU) is largely white, and Maggie Alphonsi is the only black person among the 60 members of the RFU council (Tartak, 2019)- I can change myself. The white superiority evident in sports in the UK and also the racial inequalities between blacks and whites in UK sports fuels the opposition and civil disobedience of the BLM movement (Yang, 2016).

In conclusion, sports stars create awareness about the racial injustices faced by black people and other minority ethnic and racial groups.  Moreover, sports provide a platform for the Black Lives Matter movement and other racial justice movements to highlight the racial issues faced by the minority groups. Furthermore, sports stars are followed by millions of people on social media and therefore help communicate to the world about the predicament of players belonging to the BAME demographic. Sports stars spread the information by sharing their racial experiences on social and rallying support for movements such as BLM and other movements of racial justice. Additionally, sports stars and the sports teams in which they play offer moral support to BLM and other racial justice movements. Big leagues such as the Premier League offer moral support to BLM and showed their solidarity with BLM by replacing the  player’s names with a writing of “Black Lives Matter” on the back of the shirts of the players for the season’s first twelve matches.  Moreover, sports stars support BLM and other movements of racial justice through donations of millions of pounds to fund their causes. However, sports are also a setting for discrimination, prejudice, stereotyping and exclusion for people of black African descent. Additionally, sports stars also provide criticism of BLM and other racial justice movements for deviating from their moral causes.  Moreover, the sports stars provide checks and balances to ensure that movements such as BLM do not turn into political movements. Many people who watch sports listen to sports stars and therefore view them as leaders. In this regard, sports stars ensure that movements including BLM have proper direction and do not mislead their followers.   I want you to rewrite clear conclusion … (Summarise all the key points shorter and clearly. )

References

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