Open Mike by Michael Eric Dyson

Author:Michael Eric Dyson [MICHAEL ERIC DYSON]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

10

Black Fists and Sole Brothers

The 1968 Olympics

Okay, this time period that we’re talking about, the late ’60s, is a time period in America that somebody classified as the athletic revolution. In regards to the black athlete, why did things have to change during that time period?

During the middle to late 1960s, the events of American society impinged on the consciousness of many black athletes in a way that had not happened before. One thinks of an earlier epoch, for instance, in 1936, when Jesse Owens made his famous run in the Olympics with Hitler in the stands. The opposing elements were clear: white supremacy on the one hand, black athletic genius in the service of democratic ideals on the other. But racial events didn’t come to a head the same way they did in the 1960s, including the ongoing civil rights movement, the enormous upheaval of the antiwar movement, the peace movement, the social presence of the so-called hippies and yippies, and the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. Many black athletes became more aware of their roles and responsibilities, not only as athletes but also as African American athletes.

Moreover, the rise to prominence of figures like Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali conscientized the white athlete as never before. So these forces together conspired to make black athletes much more on point, much more socially and politically conscious, and much more conscientious about being representatives of something deeper and larger than just sports. They became awakened to issues beyond hitting a ball, running a pigskin, or racing in a track and field event. They realized that they were carrying symbolic weight beyond their own athletic contests, and that they were carrying the interests of the entire race. Many of them for the first time understood that they bore what James Baldwin termed the burden of representation.

So there was a representation where their responsibility came with a high profile?

Yes. The more high profile these athletes were, the more responsibility people attached to them. Any black athlete who gains a certain level of prominence in America has attached to him, whether fair or not, the desires of his people. Folks emulate these athletes just because they’re athletes. They want to make the basket catch like Willie Mays or, more recently, they want to “be like Mike.” In the 1960s, such identification with black athletes was even more intense and important because they were ambassadors for black culture. Like entertainers Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong from an earlier era, these athletes carried the burden and responsibility of a message to white America: “We are intelligent, we are athletic, we are capable, we are not here to burn your town down or to be offensive, but we are here to exercise our craft. Furthermore, we’re bearing the responsibility for all of those millions of other black people who will never get a chance to come to your television or be seen on your large screen, or on your local gridiron.” The more high profile they were, the more demands they faced.

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