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Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson
The word “revanchist” is defined as a person “advocating or fighting for the recovery of lost territory or status.” Right now, the sports world is seeing a full-scale revanchist wave.
The people fighting for the “recovery of lost territory or status” are a motley crew of franchise owners, league commissioners, and alienated fans. They are attempting to recover the ground gained by athletes—particularly but not exclusively Black and brown athletes—during the pandemic sports season of 2020.
Sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who is Black, was barred from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for cannabis, while the International Swimming Federation, FINA, banned swimming caps for natural Black hair at the Olympics.
A year of pre-vaccination COVID-19 put team owners over a barrel. Playing games posed serious health risks, so owners granted concessions. The old rules did not apply. To survive financially, the owners needed to broadcast some form of game and get that commercial cash, no matter the distortions, no matter the empty seats.
The police murder of George Floyd further shifted the power dynamic in favor of the players. Players took to the streets as well as social media to demand not only justice but also the right to use their platform as athletes to claim political leadership.
They used their hyper-exalted, brought-to-you-by-Nike stage to speak out for “equality,” “justice,” and, as the NBA branded on its courts, “Black Lives Matter.” Even the NFL was declaring in its end zones that “End Racism” was a goal of the league.
Poems and paeans pronounced that we had entered a new era of “athlete activism.” It was led by Black athletes and it used the all-American institution of sports to help dismantle that other all-American institution of racism. Those dreams now seem to have been about as naive as the idea that Joe Biden would usher us into a new era of bipartisanship.
The fantasy of sports being an authentic voice for social justice has crashed onto the rocks of reality. Instead of a flowering of acceptance for athletes having a say in the world, we have revanchism: the efforts by rightwing elements to reclaim “lost territory or status.”
They want “shut up and play” to remain the order of the day. They want to let the workers know who’s the boss.
The NFL and NBA have removed their anti-racist branding and sloganeering from the court. The International Olympic Committee has vowed to enforce its infamous Rule 50, preventing any political speech on Olympic property. It even went out of its way to say that “Black Lives Matter” apparel would be disallowed on Olympic grounds. And sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who is Black, was barred from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for cannabis, while the International Swimming Federation, FINA, banned swimming caps for natural Black hair at the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the tennis Grand Slam tournaments issued a statement to Naomi Osaka, the number-two-ranked player in the world, threatening to bar her from future tournaments unless she fulfills her “media obligations” and speaks to the press. Osaka brought the Black Lives Matter movement into the heart of the very conservative world of tennis last year. This is her punishment.
Besides this crackdown on player independence and politics from above, we have also seen something ugly unleashed from below. As fans have been allowed back into arenas, the amount of fan violence, some directed at the players themselves, has been manifest and frightening. Objects thrown at players’ heads, racial taunts directed at players and their families, fans dumping food on players as they leave the court.
This is not merely stir-crazy fans getting their dander up after COVID-19 lockdowns. This is better understood as white fans letting players know their place in the pecking order. As Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets said after getting a water bottle thrown at his head, we need to confront the “underlying racism and treating people like they’re in a human zoo.”
Yes, this does need to be confronted. But the starting point has to be players recognizing that this is no longer a time of “sports leagues against racism.” The players kept the lights on during the pandemic and owners responded by backing off and not disciplining players for talking politics. Those days appear to be over.
Whether through their unions or their own separate organizations, players are going to have to fight for full citizenship, particularly the right to speak out against bigotry. It is a fight that they could lose unless they see it for what it is.
The sports owners are not their friends. Many of the fans are not their friends. Players must gain strength from each other, and from the displays of solidarity with those being isolated and attacked. The future of “athlete activism” will depend upon it.