HälsopromotionEmilia Nilsson
IDG510 Idrott, organisation och samhälleMaja Bäckström
Racialization and sport
Racism is often looked upon as a taboo subject in Sweden. It’s something we do not tend to discuss openly, but rather keep it to ourselves. But the fact is that racism is a big problem even in our small country and something that should be more dealt with. The question is if people in Sweden differs race from ethnicity. While race is something biological, ethnicity is something cultural and how we choose to see people from physical or cultural traits leads to different ideologies. We use the ideologies to connect others appearance with different traits, for example the shape of the nose with intelligence or the color of the skin with how fast they are.
We are constantly surrounded by these ideologies in different ways, especially when it comes to sport. Racism can be seen both from individuals, by slurs and taunts, but also from institutions that systematically discriminates racial groups. We discussed the difference between these two and concluded that institutional racism doesn’t always have to be intentional. The problem is that racism has become so naturalized in our society, and a part of sport, that people are not even reacting to it, for example when a coach puts black students in certain positions because of his or her own prejudices about them being faster. His intention doesn’t have to be racial or bad, but it has consequences and it probably won’t favor either the team or the individual players. Stereotyping black people also leads to their efforts often being devaluated and they have to work a lot harder to reach the greater positions in competitions. A lot of people see them as “born to be fast” and don’t appreciate the work they put behind their success in the same way as they do with white people.
Racism being a taboo subject in Sweden at the same time as it has become a part of sport leads to certain consequences. Sport might have become an arena for racist acts to take place without being judged and where people are given permission to speak their minds more openly. This is a reason why when you go to a soccer game in Sweden you will often hear racist slurs from the crowd, even though many of our most respected players has foreign backgrounds. Zlatan is a good example, he grew up in Sweden but because his parents are from Bosnia and Croatia he has the typical looks of an immigrant. This causes racist reactions from people, especially when he makes mistakes or they are unhappy with the way he plays. You can see it in social media where it’s easier to stay anonymous, but people also tend to release their anger and frustration at the live games which is why it’s not unusual to hear racist names being called during them. When he has a good game suddenly his background is forgotten and he represents the whole country of Sweden.
When we discuss racism in Sweden, we treat the subject from our own perspective, with white people being used as the norm. This is also what happened in our group, it’s easy to make quick assumptions about other races but we realized that we actually don’t know anything about how our prejudices makes them feel. Even if we call black people fast, strong or powerful, which all have positive meanings, it can lead do discrimination by separating them from us. It’s all a matter of whose referencepoint is being used. When we use white as the norm, everything else becomes something that is different. Being white is “normal” while everything else is seen as “colored”. This is clearly shown when someone makes mistakes in sport. For example when a black person fails to score in a soccer game, the audience call him by racist names or tell him to go back to where he came from. If the player would be white, none of that would occur, because a white player is looked upon as an individual while a black player represents the whole race. The differences within the race are bigger than the difference between the races, so to have one person representing a whole race gets very problematic.
It’s hard to reach racial equality if we keep trying to do so by only seeing the issues from our own perspective. We can’t force black people to join traditionally white sports and activities, just to make society more equal. Again, equal from a white persons perspective. As long as we have all the prejudices that we do, we will always have a gap between the races. White people are seen as the norm and they will fight to keep it that way. In a lecture we had with Dean a couple of days ago we learned that there are several reasons that ideologies about black people were established. One is that the white government needed to justify killing and displacing Indians in the USA. Another is that they could maintain economic advantages, something that is current today as well. Consequently, white people will want to keep the power and their place on the top of the hierarchy of racialization. This is an intersectional problem, and you can see the same trends when it comes to the gender discussion, men want equal rights but they don’t like their own privileges to be lesser or fewer. This leads to most women with African backgrounds having far from the same rights as white men.
In many sports there are a majority of either white or black athletes. This might depend on the norms people have created about the biological differences between various races and the circumstances when growing up. For example many black people compete in100 meterswhich might relate to the fact that black men and women have been told during their entire life that they are explosive and fast and therefore they started exercising that sport. Then, when the white people who have been fed with the same facts, watches the world cups and all they see in the 100 meter runs are black, their prejudices are confirmed. In return, this could lead to white people not ever bother trying to practice this sport, since they don’t see any chances of winning. A different example of this is basketball, a sport that’s also dominated by black people. This might be related to the circumstances of being a youth in the low class suburbs consisting of mainly black people. At the same time the white, middle class man grew up during vastly improved economic circumstances in relation to a common black man. Considering those circumstances, the white man achieved more opportunities when choosing a sport and might have chosen a different sport than basketball. On the other hand black people were in need of a sport which did not include a high monthly maintenance cost. As a result basketball was close at hand and therefore they might have formed a bond with basketball, and made it a culture, which in return has kept them together in order to make incredible progress. This could also explain why there are mostly white people who play sports that require material objects and devices.
Another example of the segregation between natives and people with foreign backgrounds is school. A friend of mine in an American college told me that she got invited to school a couple of weeks before the semester was to start. The reason for this was that she had a foreign background and the school administration had decided to give the opportunity for foreign students to come earlier and get to know those in the same situation. My friend didn’t attend this “pre-school camp” but she told me that this made the difference between the black people and the white people much stronger. The once who had met at the camp was the once who were now hanging out and separated them from the others. This was also shown when it came to sports, because you are often drawn to the same activities as your friends. This could be both positive and negative and the intent is good, creating a secure environment for the foreign students. But at the same time it reinforces the differences between the groups which could have problematic consequences when it comes to equality.
We also discussed where to focus the efforts made towards racism. Most specific actions are made to prevent the individual type. This is easier to target because it’s often easier to spot. But should we concentrate on the small, declared group of racists or should we see the larger context? One of the reasons racism keeps occurring is all of the small acts and comments made by a lot of different people combined, which is shown well in sport organizations and clubs. The institutional racism might not be as easy to handle but if we started there, it’s possible that the individual racism would be lesser as well. If the coaches and leaders hold up a good example it will affect the younger ages. We think this is a very good way to get to the core of the problem.