Sports: The Center Stage For Racial Angst

In an effort to get ready for my upcoming trip, I am using some of my free time (what little there is) to learn more about the country that I am getting ready to visit.  Other than just reading about the history in the many recommended books from my trip coordinator, I am also reading the news that is coming out of South Africa. The following is a news article that considerably piqued my interest.


The Article...
"British field hockey officials have issued a "full and unreserved apology" to the South African women's team for playing an apartheid-era version of the national anthem before a London Cup match on Tuesday.



A version of "Die Stem," the old anthem of a divided South Africa, was played before the team upset fourth-ranked Great Britain in their opening match of the tournament. South African Hockey Association chief executive Marissa Langeni, who wasn't at the match, demanded a full apology after claiming that the original version of "Die Stem," the anthem from 1927 to 1993, was played before the match.  


...A team manager who was in attendance contradicted the chief executive, saying the version played was more of a "mix" between "Die Stem" and "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," the current anthem. Confusing matters even more is that the current national anthem of South Africa features verses from both songs. They were combined in the 1990s after apartheid was abolished in the African nation. 


"We would like to formally place on record in the strongest terms our disappointment as a country for the administrative blunder in playing the old, divisive anthem of an apartheid South Africa," she wrote.


Officials at the tournament were quick to respond.

"The error was made by a contractor responsible for sports presentation at the event," Sally Munday said later. "Standard procedure would be to check anthems to be played with visiting teams in advance, however, on this occasion that did not happen and Great Britain Hockey accepts full responsibility."
Officials said they would play the correct version before South Africa's match on Wednesday."(yahoo sports)

Reaction...
This story caught my attention, for two reasons.  One, being the issue of the appropriateness of the national anthem for countries with diverse groups of people and the second, being the issue of how sport players of color are discriminated against world wide.  


Though the original anthem sounds very traditional and patriotic, actually quite fitting for a nation at the turn of the previous century.  However it is the newest anthem that I was impressed by.  It is the only neo-modal national anthem in the world. Furthermore,  the lyrics within the anthem are derived from the five most populous of South Africa's eleven official languages - Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza). 


South Africa's 11 Official Languages by Region
This fact alone was quite interesting.  How is it that South Africa, in less than thirty years, figured out that it was best to be inclusive (as permissible) of different groups of people? However, in America we still do not have equity even on a nationalistic scale for the largest of the "minority" groups.  Furthermore, we are still squabbling about forcing all immigrants learn english. 


In America, the fight has always been for equity, but somehow "minority" groups settle for slight acts of assimilation instead.  After African-Americans, Women, Hispanics, Native-Americans, etc all had their various movements throughout the twentieth century they won specific goals: voting, access to public rescources, access to jobs, etc. However, at the end of the day, all of these groups still salute the same flag and sing the same out dated, exclusive, sexist and racist national anthem. As beautiful as it sounds and as many nostalgic and patriotic feelings that it stirs up, it is still based on the W.A.S.P model. Many people are unaware that the US national anthem contains 4 verses and takes about 10 minutes to sing in its entirety.  Within these other verses, the positive enforcement of  slavery exists, the ideas of conquering outsiders (both domestic and foreign) is prevalent and the nostalgic American ideals are exhaustively immortalized.



By saying this, it is not my goal to create distention but point out that there have been small victories for all groups yet there are still fundamental issues that are still in place that make equity unattainable for "minority" peoples.


Secondly...
The issue of the wrong national anthem being played draws connections to racial incidents that I have heard about before in the world of sports. The treatment of peoples of African heritage within other sports has been something that I have often heard about.  Just this year, Italy’s Black Player Mario Balotelli was subject to “monkey chants” as he was playing in Poland against Croatia.(Hinterland Gazette) In 2006 during the World cup, “Several of the U.S. team's African-American players who compete professionally in European leagues said they have been targets of discrimination and verbal and even physical abuse because of their race — on and off the field.”(USA Today



Although some may like to think that this only occurs in European countries, this is not the case. In 2005, player Leandro Desabato of Argentina was arrested for racially abusing Grafite, a black Brazilian player. (Christian Science Monitor). Furthermore in the Apertura 2006 tournament, audience members made guttural sounds imitating a chimpanzee against Felipe Baloy (who is from Panama) as he scored a goal. During the game, onlookers had also chanted other racial slurs  including chango (monkey) and come platano (banana eater) (Global Voices). 


Some may read and watch about these occurrences and think about their non-affiliation with the world of sports.  Others will quickly think that it has nothing to do with them, after all, this is America, it's 2012, Obama is our President!  


The issue of racism and “misplaced” racial angst is nothing new to people of color, on either side of the Atlantic. In America, we can liken what is going on in Europe and South America to our recent past of racial integration of sporting leagues after WWII.  However, full equality has still not been attained.  This can be seen in numerous examples within this past decade:

  • 2002, when it was controversial for Ty Willingham and Tony Dungy to be head coaches (ESPN)
  • 2003, when Kobe Bryant was accused of raping a Caucasian woman and was subsequently assumed to be guilty as “African-American males . . . have been identified and construed as the typical rapist.” During slavery and long after, women's claims of rape went unquestioned and alleged rapists who were black would be summarily executed. (Coughlin)
  • 2003, Dusty Baker stated that "black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players." Dusty, defending his beliefs, later said, "What I meant is that blacks and Latinos take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latinos. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that." (USA Today)
  • 2004, when Paul Hornung said that Notre Dame, to lower its academic standards so that more African-American athletes might be admitted (ESPN)



"...Race matters in all US sports, for example, golf, NASCAR, NHL, MLB, NBA, college sports, ownership, management and so on....Every inch of American sports has a "race elephant" in the room. Tiger Woods is the only African American pro golfer of note. The Williams sisters are the only African American pro tennis players (male or female) of note. No African Americans drive NASCAR - a sport that takes little skill. Michael Jordan of basketball fame is the only majority owner of a basketball team, a sport in which the majority of players are African American." (Professor of Sociology Earl Smith from Wake Forest University in North Carolina



It is not only people of African decent, but other groups that also suffer from the same racist ideas.  Jeremy Lin has also been  subjected to racist commentary, from his peers as well as outsiders. 


"Everywhere he plays, Lin is the target of cruel taunts. ‘It's everything you can imagine,’ he says. ‘Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian.’ Even at the Ivy League gyms? ‘I've heard it at most of the Ivies if not all of them,’ he says. ... According to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, another Ivy League player called him a C word that rhymes with ink during a game last season. On Dec. 23, during Harvard's 86-70 loss to Georgetown in Washington, McNally says, one spectator yelled ‘Sweet-and-sour pork!’ from the stands." (Time Magazine)


We, the public, are also quite aware (at least I would prefer to believe) of the ongoing controversy concerning racialized sporting mascots. What is interesting in that rehlm, is that there does seem to be a little more attention to correct the offensive images. 





In 2005, The NCAA attempted to bar Indian mascots by individual schools. However due to political pressure, they decided to ban the use of American Indian mascots by sports teams during postseason tournaments. (ESPN)


Even more recently, two years ago (2010), Sen. Suzanne Williams from Colorado  introduced a bill that would have required all public and charter high schools in Colorado seek approval from the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs to make sure that the mascot was accountable and respectful. She told the media, "I introduced this bill because I feel very strongly that we need a conversation about the subtle discrimination between races and cultures." However, after much local political pressure the measure was dropped because the Colorado Indian Education Foundation plans to work with schools that have Indian mascots. "I fervently believe we can build on our knowledge and expand our appreciation of our Native American ancestors," said Williams, who is one-quarter Comanche.(Denver Post)

What does this have to do with education?
Rather than rant about it and continue to provide numerous examples about racism in the world of sports, I would rather like to spend time thinking about how people of color, should address these entrenched ideas and educate themselves as well as others.  






Obviously, the first thing that  would and can be said would be to promote awareness about the racial angst within the world of sports and to participate in campaigns toward tolerance. 

However, tolerance is just that. Tolerance.  So, how can real change be made?  One way that this issue is being addressed is in the 4th International Conference on Sport, Race and Ethnicity, which will be held at the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 27 – 30, 2012.  This confrence will feature speakers from Asia, America, New Zealand and Europe. “This is a hugely significant year for sport in the UK with many of the world’s leading athletes descending on London for the Olympic Games. These mega-events create an opportunity to interrogate issues of race and ethnicity in modern sport." (Unv of Ulster) By starting a real international and local conversation about race we can then begin to deconstruct such angst against "minorities". 


Back to South Africa...




Needless to say after all of the hubub about "Die Stem" being played before the field hockey game in London, the South African team beat Great Britain 3-1 in an upset. So, like the team, it is my hope that we the spectators can do as they did and maintain our composure and dignity as we engage in working toward equity in our respective nations as well as abroad.


Ukuvalelisa!
take leave from, say goodbye

Review: Knowledge in the Blood by Jonathan D. Jansen

The assignment...
In preparation for our trip abroad, we were assigned to read the text Knowledge In The Blood by Jonathan D. Jansen. Initially, as with any class I was none that excited to read the book. After all I have my passport and my bags ready, already. Not to mention we were told that it "wasn't one of the easiest reads". So, why waste 360 pages of my life? 


Description...
"This book tells the story of white South African students—how they remember and enact an Apartheid past they were never part of. How is it that young Afrikaners, born at the time of Mandela's release from prison, hold firm views about a past they never lived, rigid ideas about black people, and fatalistic thoughts about the future? Jonathan Jansen, the first black dean of education at the historically white University of Pretoria, was dogged by this question during his tenure, and Knowledge in the Blood seeks to answer it.

Jansen offers an intimate look at the effects of social and political change after Apartheid as white students first experience learning and living alongside black students. He reveals the novel role pedagogical interventions played in confronting the past, as well as critical theory's limits in dealing with conflict in a world where formerly clear-cut notions of victims and perpetrators are blurred." (Amazon)


Post-Procrastination thoughts, aka my review...
So, this is the part where I eat crow. 

................Yum


Alright, down to business. For one, the book is not hard to read nor is it had to get into.  I actually found it quite easy to read, minus the parts where I literally had to read the book for fifteen minutes and then put it down for another fifteen minutes otherwise I was going to explode from racial angst and frustration.


One area that we discussed about the book was the idea of the “transmission of knowledge”.  Meaning, how does a culture pass down information to future generations. The most striking area in which the “transmission of knowledge” enhanced my understanding of this process was through the issues raised in the section in which Jansen discusses perceptive formation of second generation knowledge.  Specifically the seven areas of knowledge, indirectness, transmission, influence, relational, mediated and paradoxical. 


Currently I teach tenth grade history (US I) and before that I’ve taught 11th grade history (US II) and “African-American” History. Both of the schools that I have taught in are in the “urban” setting with a large population of “minority” students and a large population of “majority” teachers.  It seems like the way that Jansen explains the “transmission of knowledge” pertains to exactly the African-American or wider “non-white” American experience moreover how it is handled, discussed and taught within our classrooms.  It literally takes me about three months for  my students understand the subject matter in more than just the third level of Bloom’s Taxonomy when discussing the conduct of race, language, culture, etc.  The issue that race, ethnicity outside of the W.A.S.P. “American” tradition takes a lot of time to deconstruct, particularly after so much emphasis was and still is put on that ideal as the standard to being "American".  The idea that Jansen describes as “knowledge and not experience or trauma or pathology” is not within the social norm of our modern society.   The ideas that the Afrikaners expressed as described in the section "On The State of Being Defeated" ad very similar to how we dealt when our country went through desegregation and even grapple with in our farcical "post-racial" Obama society.  



It can even be seen within our society as recent as last year when a caucasian woman sued a college under affirmative action for not being allowed entry to a institution due to her race. The very claim of "reverse discrimination" being ludicrous in its very nature (yet similarly claimed by the new generation of Afrikaners as seen on page 119).  Racism has an institutional backing, and therefore, has a dramatic impact on the target group's life. This is quite different than bigotry or even personal prejudices that caucasian peoples may feel from other groups.




The very steps of "indirectness, transmission, influence, relational, mediated and paradoxical" come into play, particularly due to my subject area.  It is interesting hearing from my current students even "recalling" 9/11 and the Iraq war. Many a time, I do forget how much older I am compared to my students and how different their experiences are from my own. Furthermore, my own upbringing presents a different scope, even on the most basic educational level and fundamental understanding of transmission of knowledge.  As an educator, I understand that there is social bias within each group which lives within either country. However, it is the idea that knowledge and NOT experience or trauma or pathology truly be explored within our classrooms, and considered when creating policy and curriculum. 


In closing...
It was quite interesting to read about South Africa and have such a connection with the text through my own knowledge of Jim Crow America. By reading Jansen's descriptions of what it was and is like in South Africa, it reminded me of powerful images of stories I have been told all of my life by my mother and maternal aunts about Jim Crow and Southern Life before the Civil Rights movement. 


Apartheid in South Africa
Jim Crow in America
BILL HUDSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
So on one hand I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it for reading. However, I cannot help but be apprehensive. I imagine it will not be that much different from here, where people will smile in your face yet follow me around a store as though I am a thief. Alas, I will find out soon enough...  



Ukuvalelisa!
take leave from, say goodbye


Off to South Africa



The Beginning...

Currently I am enrolled in the Graduate School at Rutgers University.  Though I graduated with my BA in 2008, it took me some time to make my way back to applying myself to my academics goals.  The saying of  "sooner than later" comes to mind.  Though it is only my second semester, I am fortunate to be a participant in the 2012  South Africa Initiative Study Tour


MySAI letter
My journey began in February of 2012 when I stumbled upon the SAI program website while looking for scholarships.  I quickly worked on my  SAI Study Tour Interest Statement and drove to the GSE building to be sure that it was received in time. A mere couple of weeks later and I received my answer. I gained entry into the program!  My only problem...covering the rest of the costs for the rest of the trip.  




When applying for the trip, I recall my mind flowing with a range of questions.  How this trip was going to add and enhance myself as an educator, as a curriculum writer, as an African-American female, and as a spiritual being?  Will I be "odd man out" amongst a sea of "white liberals" going to the continent to educate the "poor Africans"?  How will I be viewed as an African-American "returning home", specifically one who has a Caucasian father, by my continental African cousins? What does racism look like in South Africa? How or does Pan Africanism exist in South Africa? How accurate was Sarafina! (as I was only 11 when apartheid "ended")? ...and Where is my passport?



Orientation, Training, On-Line Chats...and "finding" that passport!

Beginning on June 8th, my fellow participants and I began to meet for our pre-trip orientation. One of the first questions asked was if we had our passports? Oh boy, of course I was the only one who was still waiting on the State Department's 4-6 week grace period (I lost my previously issued passport after my last trip to Mexico and was waiting for a replacement). 

Over the span of two hours, we went over what would be required of us for the few months before during and after our trip. This trip's goal is to, "Through lived experiences, service learning and self-reflection learners challenge beliefs and assumptions, and develop critical thinking skills as part of their development of personal and professional competence. Participants in the cultural immersion program in South Africa typically will demonstrate greater personal and professional cultural competencies in their lives and workplace." By the time our initial two hour meeting was over, the room was abuzz with anticipation and excitement.  

My first time ever sitting in the
 "reserved" section
After being ousted as the official introvert of the group, and two more meetings, it was time for the official SAI kick off and time to be bequeathed with our tickets!  The evening was full of speeches from former alumnae of the program. We looked at pictures, we heard poetry, we even saw how the SAI experience was used as a spring board for urban schools here in Perth Amboy New Jersey. In a way I was envious of the alumnae, they had done so much with the full experience and I am still standing on the apex aching with anticipation for what is to come.  However, in a year from now, I will be where they are and know what they know.  The whole evening was one in which was spent going over all of our excitement and expectations. 



My E-Ticket! (Don't mind the chipped polish
For the first time, I actually walked around and spoke to numerous educators and administrators...I officially "schmoozed" and lived to tell the tale. I'm beginning to think that I could actually get use to this.  The best surprise of the evening...my passport came!  


My new passport, ready
for those stamps!

My mission, should I choose to accept it...
While in South Africa I will have the opportunity to teach in three different classroom settings, conduct some sightseeing, and become totally emerged in South African culture and life. I am thoroughly looking forward to the over all experience, moreover I'm having great anticipation on how this experience will help me further shape my [culturally relevant, pan-african] pedagogy and bring me one step further to attaining my overall career goals.  


The Next Step...
Over the next few weeks I will still be involved in pre-trip orientation activities.  I have already thoroughly exhausted my Ebay account buying "travel friendly" necessities and am now looking on how to acquire school materials, clothing and other things to the students who will be in my care once I get there. So if your interested in contributing, please contact me as soon as possible. If not, please keep you eye out for future posts.  It is my goal to post at least three times a week before I leave on July 13, 2012 and hopefully (depending on my web access) once a day while I'm on my trip.


Ukuvalelisa!
take leave from, say goodbye










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