Jimmy ‘the Greek’ Snyder was a CBS sports commentator for twelve years. Knowing the ins and outs of the NBA, Snyder was as good of a commentator as any. Regardless of his experience and on the job knowledge, one day Snyder was asked why there was such a high number of black athletes in the NBA. Ignorantly, he explained what Heidi Lujan and Stephen DiCarlo call, the “slavery hypertension hypothesis” (Lujan and DiCarlo, 2018).
Snyder explained that black people have been naturally selected through the years of slavery to have physically superior bodies. This, he explained, is why the NBA is eighty percent black. Personally, I find his answer to be very similar to Thomas Jefferson’s when establishing what race was best for what job. The only difference is that Snyder is saying this after three hundred years of “modernization” and “growth”.
Lujan and DiCarlo, both being researchers on this topic, explain that his hypothesis’ credibility is far too weak to be broadcasted for the world to hear. They explain plenty of other theories with far more support, but far less recognition.
One of these alternative theories points out the fact that the average black family makes sixty percent of the average white family. Therefore, they have limited access to certain sports such as swimming and hockey. Sports like these require much more organization and funding than sports like basketball. So, rather than black people being biological hybrids, the assumption is that black people growing up are only left with few sports to fight over (Lujan and DiCarlo, 2018).
Another theory, which goes highly unrecognized, is the criminalization of the African American identity. This identity issue is brought up with terms like double consciousness and intersectionality. Starting at a young age, there are societal pressures put on black students that to do well in school one must be “white”. These black students are then left with the decision to give up their identity and attempt to pursue a “white” career in an unsuitable environment or believe in their identity and attempt to find a career that allows them to be who they are (Ferguson, 2000).
Picking between a rock and a hard place, many students take the latter. By taking the latter these individuals are left to look at their role models. And can you think of who they may be? What type of professions allow individuals to remain “black” and still make a good living? Well, a large portion are NBA players, because as said before, eighty percent rule the courts.
Not to mention that natural selection and evolution doesn’t occur within a few generations. The effects are significantly minimal even after ten, twenty, full generations of mammals. So even if these alternatives weren’t available, the main explanation is highly questionable on its own.
At least for me, I was left to wonder why these logical explanations of the NBA are left in the background and are instead commonly trumped by the idea that slavery somehow helped people of color (Lujan and DiCarlo, 2018).
To explain this phenomenon, one must consider our Implicit Bias. This bias has allowed for certain norms and hypotheses to flourish when in reality they are ignorant and most likely incorrect. It shapes how we see the world, which in a way creates the world. It is this shaping that causes employment inequality issues, our tendency to justify white actions, and belief in easy fallacies rather than the blunt truth.
Implicit racism is a huge underlying issue that is going unnoticed because whether many people know it or not, they are encouraging and supporting it. The NBA is simply one example of the US societal issue on race. Rather than pretending slavery was good in some ways, we need to accept the hard truth. It wasn’t. It didn’t genetically alter African Americans through natural selection. And it wasn’t a necessity for societal growth. It was simply wrong and to this day people pay for that wrongdoing. So, the least we can do is acknowledge it. Because the first step to fixing a problem is admitting it exists.
Read next Wednesday to hear about how racism is a very active process in the United States today.
The Whole Series is Now Available:
Bridging Our Understanding of Racism (Part 1)
How Unnatural Racism Is (Part 3)
Implicit Racism, the Racism you Never Knew About (Part 4)
Just How Present is Racism? (Part 6)
It’s Time to Take Action Against Racism (Part 7)
Work cited
Alemán, Rosa. “What Is Intersectionality, and What Does It Have to Do with Me?” YW Boston, 24 Apr. 2018, www.ywboston.org/2017/03/what-is-intersectionality-and-what-does-it-have-to-do-with-me/
Dicarlo, Stephen E, and Heidi L Lujan. “The ‘African Gene’ Theory: It Is Time to Stop Teaching and Promoting the Slavery Hypertension Hypothesis.” American Physiological Society Journal | Home, 2018, www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/advan.00070.2018
Ferguson, Ann. Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity (2000): 578-587
“Jimmy Snyder (Sports Commentator).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Snyder_(sports_commentator)
Kristin. “Understanding W.E.B. Du Bois’ Concept of Double Consciousness.” Kristin Does Theory, 2012, kristindoestheory.umwblogs.org/understanding-w-e-b-du-bois-concept-of-double-consciousness/