Black Athletes and The Black Community
A closer look at how black athletes fit into the larger black community at Brown
Embedded Files
by Xavier Silva
Black at Brown Podcast.mp4Open discussions surrounding the relationship between black athletes and the black community are few and far between, but this podcast aims to start some dialogue on the matter.
Whenever I ask someone to speak on it, they always say something along the lines of “you’re trying to get me canceled.” Sometimes a knowing look or a mere side-eye does enough to get the point across. Other times, they might refuse to comment all together. It’s not common that I find people who are willing to openly speak about it. Notions of what and what is not socially acceptable, a perceived need for censorship, and the simple desire just to fit in all loom heavily over this topic. Suffice it to say, how black athletes fit into the larger black community at Brown is a big point of controversy for a lot of black students.
The tension that exists between black athletes and the rest of the black community is not new and has persisted from class to class for years.
Of course, there is always going to be a natural divide between athletes and the rest of the student body due to scheduling and use of different facilities.
Subsequently, each group places a variety of stereotypes on the other, like athletes calling other students “NARPs” (non-athletic regular people) or other students considering athletes to be unintelligent “meatheads”.
Throw in issues of race on top of these inherent biases and what results is the animosity that I and so many others have witnessed throughout our college careers.
This animosity has shown itself through black students vilifying black athletes on social media, black athletes making malicious comments towards other members of the black community through podcasts, but most significantly through what gets said behind closed doors.
These feelings of ill-will towards each other get passed along from person to person, to the point where we judge each other before even allowing them to speak a word.
This conflict has lingered far too long, and it’s important to me that people start talking about ways to fix it.
One graduating senior had this to say about it, “There needs to be a conversation had, in terms of not generalizing… I don’t think that we should be generalizing each other, because as it is already we’re at a PWI, an extremely elite institution that wasn’t even built for us if we’re being honest… I just think time is short and we don’t have time to be like beefing with each other and having these issues.”
For some members of the community, the thought that this tension exists is of little concern, but for many it affects their day to day interactions. What everyone can agree upon is that the friction is real.
Black women feel devalued by the black men on sports teams. One student had this to say about stereotypes surrounding black male athletes at Brown: “Within the black community there’s stereotypes, but people validate the stereotypes… colorism, sexism, and ignorance as a whole.”
Black athletes feel unwelcome in settings meant to be open to the entire black community. Another student athlete had this to say in regards to being accepted on campus: “Everybody should be able to go to the BSU meetings and feel comfortable. There shouldn’t be any type of tension like that.”
Black men feel that black women on sports teams are too stuck up. This student had this to say about the stereotypes placed on black female athletes: “The idea around the women is that they view themselves as higher than everyone else in a sense, and they don’t give people chances in relationships and friendships. They flaunt that they’re athletes, and the guys don’t typically do that.”
Black athletes feel as if they have a target on their back anytime they wear team gear or tell someone that they’re an athlete. This student athlete said this about meeting people outside of athletics: “I’m still in defense mode now. I’m always going to have to be in defense mode and explain myself.”
On the flip side of that, this student said this about generalizing student athletes: “Some people you just don’t need to give a chance…Especially when multiple people have had the same issue…like the situation with ___, I don’t think I’d ever talk to him in my life.”
The list of problems and accounts goes on and on, yet there seems to be no open dialogue about what’s happening. Depending on who you talk to, blame will be placed on different parties, but miscommunication is at the heart of the tension.
One student says, “It’s a 50/50 thing where we’re judging y’all- like people who are non athletes, we’re judging y’all, and people who are athletes- they judge us. Both groups aren’t doing anything to solve the issue.”
Given that there’s no open dialogue between black athletes and other black students at Brown, the mutual judgment continues from year to year, and these negative sentiments get passed down from each class to the next.
One student shared their experience about her views on black athletes early in her college career and said this: “I know that there is a big issue between athletes especially in the black community, and I was told that even prior to coming to Brown… I think when people tell you certain things that go on in the community, of course you gotta experience it yourself because you may not, but you want to keep an eye out for it. You want to take note of what people say.”
When people enter Brown’s campus with certain expectations placed on different groups of people, it has a strong impact on their subsequent interactions with that group.
In this case, one black, freshman athlete said this about how he felt he was viewed when first stepping foot on campus: “They don’t like us at all for real initially… the more people I’ve been interacting with, they’re like you’re not what I thought you were… you have to prove them wrong.”
Both sides of this issue seem to hold certain preconceived notions of the other, leading to further lack of communication and the perpetuation of stereotypes and generalizations.
Contentious as the topic may be, what we often dance around are the two parties most at odds with each other: black men on sports teams and black women on campus.
As alluded to previously, a notion held by many black women is that the black men on sports teams are colorist, do not appreciate, and hold harmful views towards black women.
This black woman on campus had this to say about the relationship between black male athletes and black women at Brown: “I do think it’s just an issue of black men vs black women… Black men are more likely to be colorist… when people think of things like that, they look at [black athletes] first… people talk shit about a certain issue in the black community- like I said, colorism- and [black athletes] are on the frontlines with that.”
She says this is why: “The recurring behavior and the patterns and people- like upperclassmen- saying ‘oh they did this last year, I’ve had this experience before’ so stuff like that because there is this thing where a lot of black women who are upperclassmen, they’ll tell you to watch out for certain people.”
As this student alludes to, there have been a number of incidents in which black male athletes have either said or done things harmful to black women on campus. A prime example of this is when a number of black football players posted a podcast that contained what many perceived as colorist remarks, maliciously targeting darker skinned women.
Publicly broadcasted situations like that podcast, coupled with several other isolated instances in which black women feel attacked by black male athletes is what leads to the generalizations about athletes that occur.
One student athlete has this to say about it: “In black women’s defense, if you will, there are a lot of things that go on that shouldn’t happen especially on this campus. For example that podcast… that was extremely ignorant and when people see things like that, that’s why they generalize… I feel like when you do see things like that it makes it hard for non-student athletes not to generalize you, and I can’t even really fault them for that. That was honestly just disturbing as well, just watching that.”
This is a sentiment held by so many other black men on sports teams, but often gets lost in translation. Rather than collaborating to address these issues together, what happens in response to incidents like the podcast is that each group keeps to themselves even more, and the resentment and stereotyping grows even deeper.
One black football player, entirely unaffiliated with the podcast, shared an alarming story with me that occurred shortly after the release of the podcast. While he was wearing his Brown football attire, a black woman who he did not know approached him in the school dining hall and told him “It’s up for y’all” for no apparent reason other than that he is on the football team.
On the other side of the negative comments thrown towards black women by black men on sports teams, negative comments targeted at black athletes, regardless of their actions, do nothing to solve the issue and lead to more generalizations.
The same student athlete who made the previous remark in defense of black women shared this about the harm generalizations do to black men playing sports: “A lot of black women think that we only like white women, and that’s not true at all… I took that very personally because when you’re talking about you not liking the people that you come from- how can you say that but my mom is black, my aunt, my grandma… or they’ll say black football players only like women of a certain shade and I also find that very hard to believe… to just sit here and say that that black man right there only likes light skinned women, I don’t think is fair.”
The black community at Brown is very small and tight knit, and the community of black athletes is even smaller. This means that word about certain people’s negative behavior travels fast and that it’s very easy to assume that the other members of such a small group think the same way. Another student said this about about the relationship between black athletes and the black community at Brown:
“I feel like it’s a conflict because of the misunderstanding. Sometimes when people do certain things and a lot of people hear about it they kind of associate everyone associated with that person as the same, and that’s what happens with a lot of the athletes.”
He elaborates on that by saying:
“You know more about what happens between the athletes but I feel like the same thing is going on between the regular community. Because they’re athletes it gets more publicity in a sense. It’s kind of- like- unfair to them because we’re all in the same state.”
At the end of the day, we are all going through similar experiences as black individuals in an elite, predominantly white institution, and it’s important to me that we do so on a united front.
Xavier Silva, a sophomore linebacker at Brown with a great interest in the nuance of social life.
Black Athletes and the Black Community:
What led me to write about my overarching topic for these features is the separation between athletes and the rest of the student body that I've witnessed during my time at Brown. For this piece specifically, I wanted to dive into how this separation affects members of the black community in a unique way. I feel like I often find myself as a mediator between my black friends who are athletes and my black friends who are not athletes. My aim through this piece is to bring to light the dissonance between black athletes and other areas of the black community at Brown, and voice the opinions of people on both sides of the issue. I conducted five one on one interviews with black students at Brown, some who are athletes and some who are not. On top of that I talked with a handful of other black students about their thoughts on the topic, and obviously spoke about everything with my two friends on the podcast as well. I found myself particularly invested in this story compared to my other one, and I hope things can change in the future.
Sources:
Photos courtesy of Brown BSU's Instagram account, Brown.edu, and BrownBears.com -
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