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November 27, 2013
Page 7
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O pinion
Troubling Rites of Passage in Sports
Correcting an
abusive culture
by H akim H azim
Currently it’s
impossible to have
a c o n v e rsa tio n
about social ills
and not bring up
the issue of bully
ing. Previously,
this conversation
was limited to our schools but in
recent years, it has expanded to
include research on the means and
objectives of bullying and the envi
ronments in which it takes place.
In short, bullying happens ev
erywhere. The story of Miami Dol
phins offensive tackle Jonathan
Martin is the latest revelation of the
troubling, acceptable rites of pas
sage that shape young people.
Rites of passage are activities
designed to test young men and
prepare them for adult life. Histori
cally, many cultures across this
globe designed a series of steps
that their young men had to under
take— and succeed at before they
could be considered men. Failure
led to being shunned by everyone
in the village or one would be driven
out, assigned a place with other
children, and never allowed to
marry.
You were considered less than
a man and undeserving of any
further responsibilities. As soci
eties evolved, these rites of pas
sages were no longer agreed upon
or codified in a social context.
Young men were left to figure this
out for themselves. Military service,
employment, athletics, sexual prow
ess, physical and material acquisi
tions and numerous other things
were held out as examples of man
hood. I chose athletics.
On a personal level, I understand,
let me say— overstand, the culture of
sports. Although no one in my family
ever played professionally, five of us
did secure NCAA Division One schol
arships. The attention and recogni
tion given to people who are stand
out athletes is in my opinion unwar
ranted and symptomatic of our ob
session with sports in America.
To be sure, I love athletics and
I’m guilty of being too emotionally
involved with the teams I root for.
W hat’s really interesting is how I
become verbally abusive at the tele
vision screen when players don’t
perform to my standards.
Words like “loser,” “buster, sit
him down” effortlessly pour from
my mouth, feeling justified in my
quired belief.
one to fit in. Once you belong, you
The situations covered in the must perpetuate the groupthink.
previous paragraphs brings us to a Martin obviously had enough. Al
Stanford educated black man who though some call his motives dubi
seemingly snapped under the pres ous, one thing is clear: he no longer
sure of trying to live up to the image wanted to participate.
of what is a tough athlete.
There are many troubling things
Another level of incomprehen and details emerging from this story,
sion is the nature of the dysfunc but perhaps the most disturbing
tional relationship between the men fact: is how Miami Dolphins players
are circling the wagons. The good
old boy system is in full effect. If
Martin ever returns to football, he
will encounter an even more diffi
cult time fitting in.
In sum, I scratch my head to
understand how the field of dreams
has become a nightmare to so many
tor, Richard Incognito, and Martin, athletes. As a black man, I reaped
the mentee. Incognito’s blatant and many benefits from excelling at
unapologetic use of the “N” word sports. I also acquired some atti
toward Martin, demonstrates a lack tudes I later shed over the years.
of personal respect and boundaries Penn State, Rutgers and the Miami
on Martin’s part.
Dolphins have taught us a great
I believe the rites of passage that deal about the team: how to handle
brought Martin to this point are in-house mentality of high level
similar to gang initiations, cult in sports culture. The lesson? It
doctrination and other forms of doesn’t work.
mental abuse and boundary ero
Hakim Hazim is the founder and
sion techniques used to force some author of Relevant Now Musing.
The attention and recognition given to
people who are stand out athletes is in my
opinion unwarranted and symptomatic of
our obsession with sports in America.
wrath. As a former athlete, I heard all
of these derogatory words slung
directly at me and others by players,
teammates, fans and coaches. I never
thought anything of it and I learned
how to deal with this. I questioned
the physical toughness and mental
fortitude of those who appeared to
be weak or unqualified for high level
competition. To this very day when
I lose in competition, I feel inad
equate. Unfortunately, it’s an ac
Supporting Our Community on Black Friday
Engage in a season of resistance
by D r .
R on D aniels
The X-mas season
(the commercialized,
corrupted, capitalist
version of Christmas)
provides an excellent
opportunity for Afri
cans in America to
engage in a season of
resistance.
The corporate retail establish
ment in this country is heavily
dependent upon the holiday sea
son for consum ers to participate
in a frenzy of buying to buttress
their bottom line.
The unofficial kick-off of the
"shop until you drop" season is
the Friday after Thanksgiving,
which has popularly come to be
known as "Black Friday," the day
when the corporate retail giants
begin an all out effort to induce,
seduce, bribe and otherwise "per
suade" consum ers to buy enough
goods to enable com panies to
"break into the black" and achieve
profitability for the year!
U nfortunately, the sons and
daughters of formerly enslaved Af
ricans in America, who complain
about the oppressive conditions of
stop-and-frisk, joblessness, the War
on Drugs, crime, violence, fratricide
and the murder of unarmed black
less buying frenzy, the white corpo
rate establishment would come run
men like Trayvon Martin ning, asking what concessions they
are not immune to the se should make to end the economic
ductive appeal of the X-mas sanctions.
season.
Black people have more than $ 1
On Black Friday, black trillion o f consumer buying power
consumers will lineup with in our hands. The question is
liberated white folks in the whether we have the conscious
reckless race to give our ness, commitment and discipline to
hard earned and precious use it to promote and defend our
There is no better time to renew a
spirit o f resistance than the present.
At a minimum, seek out black
businesses and purchase as many gifts
as possible from them to bolster the
black economy.
dollars to the oppressor! We are
addicted. We must educate and or
ganize to kick the habit.
Black Friday should mark a criti
cal point when black consumers
utilize the billions of dollars in our
hands as a weapon to advance the
freedom struggle. I have often said
if black people would commit to
"keeping Christ in Christmas," fo
cus on the spiritual and family as
pects of the season and consciously
refuse to participate in the sense
interests.
There is no better time to renew a
spirit of resistance than the present.
At a minimum, seek out black busi
nesses and purchase as many gifts
as possible from them to bolster the
black economy.
Veteran activists have long ad
vocated “support black business”
days as a means of building a strong
economic infrastructure to employ
black people. In addition, communi
ties can organize expos where black
vendors and businesses can be
assembled under one roof to dis
play their wares for sale.
The second principle of the uti
lization o f consum er power is to
leverage with businesses and cor
porations that depend on black
consum er dollars. It is reasonable
to expect and demand that busi
nesses and corporations that we
patronize reinvest dollars back
into the black com m unity in the
form of jobs, advertisem ent in
black media, sponsorships and
contributions to worthy causes.
We absolutely cannot permit
businesses to grow fat o ff our
dollars without dem anding rein
vestm ent in our com m unities.
Those who refuse to do so must
face the wrath of econom ic sanc
tions, and there is no better time
to target offending businesses
and corporations than the X-mas
season.
Let us transform it into a sea
son of resistance — Remember
Trayvon Martin: Boycott Florida,
and buy black on "Black Friday!"
Dr. Ron Daniels is president o f
the Institute o f the Black World
21st Century and distinguished
lecturer at York College City Uni
versity o f New York.
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