SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 // 23
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BOOKMONGER
How privilege works —
on and off the field
Tackling racism is noth-
ing new to David J. Leonard.
As a Washington State Uni-
versity professor who focus-
es on critical culture, gender
and race studies, he writes
regularly — in both academ-
ic journals and for public
outlets — about racism and
inequality in media, in the
criminal justice system, and
in society overall.
In his new book, “Play-
ing While White: Privilege
and Power On and Off the
Field,” Leonard examines
the racism that pervades the
American sports culture,
from football and basketball
to NASCAR and snow-
boarding.
The fact that Leonard is
white does not buffer his
sharp critiques. “Whiteness
is the ultimate ‘get out of
jail free’ card,” he writes, “a
lifetime pass to go on with
your life without apologies
or consequences.”
Indeed, throughout this
book, and across a broad
spectrum of sports, Leon-
ard examines an array of
indiscretions, mistakes and
crimes committed by black
athletes and holds those up
side by side with similar be-
haviors committed by white
athletes. Whether it’s a tol-
erance for or impugning of
trash talking, or a reaction to
more violent or destructive
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behavior, the author demon-
strates that time and again
the reaction of fans, the spin
by media, the responses
by regulatory bodies and
management, and even the
presumption of innocence all
break along racial lines.
Leonard contends that
similarly, when it comes
to athletic prowess and
success, the narratives differ
significantly depending on
the athlete’s race. From The
Bleacher Report to the New
York Times, he shows how
black athletes typically are
celebrated for their natural
athletic ability, while white
athletes are praised for their
intelligence and work ethic.
He also shines a light on
research that indexes the
adjectives used in scouting
reports from CBS, ESPN
and the NFL — providing
quantitative proof of the
racial stereotyping that un-
derpins sports culture.
This book reveals the
way white privilege operates
by focusing on the cheating
and sometimes criminal mis-
behaviors of white-skinned
star athletes such as Tom
Brady, Ryan Lochte, Hope
Solo, Lance Armstrong and
others. These case studies
are not comprehensive, but
they do suggest at the very
least an ingrained and ha-
bitual extension of leniency
that is denied to those with
darker skin.
Leonard sometimes re-
gurgitates the same observa-
tions from one chapter to the
next. His writing style is a
fast-paced salmagundi of ac-
ademic jargon, “isms” (rac-
ism, sexism, exceptionalism,
consumerism), and hash
tags (#PlayingWhileWhite,
#FanWhileWhite, #Owning-
WhileWhite, #DroptheSlur,
and many, many more).
A sharper-eyed copyedi-
tor might have assisted over-
all reading comprehension
with closer attention to use
of commas and the reining
in of run-on sentences.
But putting those
criticisms aside — in the
aftermath of Charlottesville,
this is still a worthwhile
read. For white people who
don’t understand what all
the fuss is about, “Playing
While White” irrefutably
shows how racial inequity is
practiced and even promoted
in America’s sports culture.
Perhaps by considering
these issues through the
lens of sports — which is,
after all, “re-creation” — we
might become better attuned
to recognizing the institu-
tionalized racism that still
pervades our society.
The Bookmonger is Bar-
bara Lloyd McMichael, who
writes this weekly column
focusing on the books, au-
thors and publishers of the
Pacific Northwest. Contact
her at bkmonger@nwlink.
com.
“Playing While White”
By David J. Leonard
UW Press
320 pp
$26.95
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