Deck 11: Racism in Sports

Question 1

Sport has evolved as an important and growing social institution in Canadian society. It has been stated that sport celebrates societal values of competition, individualism, achievement, and _____.

A) Professional careers
B) Healthy living
C) Fair play
D) Elitism
E) Socialism

Answer 1

Fair play

Question 2

Sport has been called a _____ that is important for American identity.

A) "superiority complex"
B) "cultural text"
C) "status marker"
D) "marketing strategy"
E) "biological marker"

Answer 2

"cultural text"

Question 3

What do critical race theorists of sports attribute recent racist incidents involving popular sports figures in North America and Europe?

A) Environmental determinism
B) New racism
C) The devaluation of White bodies in sport
D) The "resurgence" of White power
E) The decline of top White male athletes in contemporary sporting arenas

Answer 3

The "resurgence" of White power

Question 4

Ferber (2007) identifies four common themes that reinforce the continued presence of racism even in sports that have substantially increased minority representation, including:

A) Increasing salary demands from internationally recognized minority athletes
B) Inequality being depicted as a product of a deficient African American culture
C) The lack of minority representation in the ownership of professional sports teams
D) The lack of mandatory cultural sensitivity programming for sports ownership, management, and player personnel
E) The perception that professional sport is not a cure for social problems, but rather a capitalist enterprise

Question 5

______ , in the context of sport, has been defined by critical race theorists as a set of ideological beliefs that can include esentialized notions of racial difference, such as the assertion that Blacks are "natural" athletes.

A) White power
B) Eurocentric elitism
C) Symbolic racism
D) Environmental Darwinism
E) Genetic superiority

Question 6

"Veiled racism" refers to

A) White athletes who espouse racist views only when they are in the company of other white athletes
B) Individuals who use liberal ideologies to proclaim that racism no longer exists
C) Minority athletes who secretly campaign against racism in sport
D) Overt racist language used by athletes on the playing field
E) A legal concept used by a recently formed coalition of international athletes to describe the various ways racism manifests itself in amateur sport

Question 7

In the realm of sport, the accomplishments of white athletes are characterized as the result of "fortitude, intelligence, moral character, and coachability". Which of the following terms has been used to describe this phenomenon?

A) "White conditioning"
B) "Athletic Where-with-all"
C) "Perfect European Genetics" (PEG)
D) "White Brains"
E) "Artificial Intelligence" (AI)

Question 8

Critical race theorists in sport have argued the perception of the black male body inspires dualistic and contradictory attitudes. On the one hand, Black athletes are much admired, but

A) Are not compensated financially as they should be for their athletic superiority
B) That same body type arouses fear in the White population
C) Are not given opportunities to prove themselves in coaching and managerial roles
D) Are still not pursued by corporate sponsors until they have proved they can be controlled
E) Continue to be under-represented in sports like basketball and baseball

Question 9

In an effort to reproduce a Victorian social order in Canada, sports became an important vehicle of __________.

A) Cultural capital
B) Social mobility
C) Racial harmony
D) Cultural imperialism
E) European enlightenment

Question 10

What was the primary purpose of the government-initiated Arctic Winter Games?

A) Adversarial competition among opponents
B) Promoting healthy living in poor White communities in the Northwest Territories
C) Hunting and gathering events helped to control the rising number of bears and wolves
D) A gathering of people
E) Promoting the athletic prowess of Aboriginal peoples in Canada to international audiences

Question 11

Canada witnessed a large growth in the number of these in the period between Confederation and World War II.

A) Professional sports teams
B) White supremacist organizations
C) Sporting clubs
D) Associations of Leisure
E) City leagues

Question 12

Who was the first Black athlete to play in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins in 1958?

A) Willie O'Ree
B) Grant Fuhr
C) Herb Carnegie
D) Kevin Weekes
E) Kevin Blackstone

Question 13

What game is said to be an Aboriginal invention?

A) Hockey
B) Lacrosse
C) Darts
D) Curling
E) Cross-Country skiing

Question 14

In 1856, Dr. William George Beers, a dentist, founded the Montreal Lacrosse Club and in 1867, the National Lacrosse Association (NLA). This is just one example of ________ in sport.

A) Ethnocentric elitism
B) Government sponsorship
C) Symbolic racism
D) Cultural appropriation
E) Fair play

Question 15

The Oka crisis in 1990 was the culmination of a long-standing claim the Mohawks had been pursuing for land in Quebec that included a burial ground and a sacred grove of pine trees. However, the town of Oka wanted to build what instead?

A) A new community centre
B) An Episcopal church
C) A golf course
D) A new housing complex
E) Corporate headquarters for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)

Question 16

The term "redskins" is derived from

A) The skin colour of Aboriginal people
B) The skin colour of European settlers during summer months
C) The 19^th century practice of trappers killing Aboriginal people for trade, exchanging animal skins for Aboriginal scalps
D) The colour of paint used by Aboriginals to symbolize war
E) The name of soldiers who won the successful battle against Aboriginal peoples in the Battle at Sitting Bull

Question 17

For the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, large housing projects (mostly housing African Americans) were demolished in order to construct new Olympic facilities. Around 30 000 families were evicted and 9000 homeless people were arrested and locked up until the games were over. This represented one of the many glaring examples of _________.

A) The global expropriation of land
B) Corporate marketing strategies
C) Sporting displacement
D) Government corruption
E) Democratic apathy

Question 18

Which athlete was proclaimed by Maclean's magazine to be the top Canadian sports figure of the 20^th century?

A) Wayne Gretzky
B) Donovan Bailey
C) Tom Longboat
D) Mike 'Pinball' Clemons
E) Mike Weir

Question 19

One source of evidence of racial segregation on the playing field is the racial division of labour in assigning playing positions, which continues to be racially biased. This practice has been referred to as _____.

A) Positional bias
B) Selective positioning
C) Stereotypical assigning
D) Player marginality
E) Stacking patterns

Question 20

The wearing of a hijab (a type of headscarf) by Muslim girls in sports has been a source of conflict in a number of parts of Canada in recent years. This is an example of

A) Cultural relativism
B) The discourse of moral panic
C) Symbolic racism
D) Over-policing of minority athletes by sporting officials
E) Denying access to recreational opportunities

Question 21

At the beginning of his athletic career, sprinter Ben Johnson was simply referred to in the media as a "Jamaican immigrant". As his athletic accomplishments began to grow, he was relabelled a "Jamaican Canadian". Then, with global success, he was consistently referred to as "Canadian". Finally, upon his disqualification in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was once again represented in terms of his "Jamaican" identity. Which of the following discourses was the media relying on?

A) The Discourse of Moral Panic
B) The Discourse of Blaming the Victim
C) The Discourse of Liberal Values
D) The Discourse of Binary Polarization
E) The Discourse of National Identity

Question 22

Labour market discrimination is defined as

A) Limiting the number of minorities in certain management positions
B) The unequal treatment of equally qualified workers
C) Refusing to pay minority athletes if they are injured
D) The extraordinary clauses in the contracts of minority athletes penalizing them for violating certain codes of conduct, such as engaging in inter-racial relationships
E) Circulating false information about minority athletes negotiating long-term, multi-million dollar contracts

Question 23

A survey of the National Football League (NFL) found that at the time they were fired, Black coaches had a better win-loss record on average than white coaches. What does this empirical evidence suggest about the representation of people of colour in ownership, managerial, or coaching positions?

A) Professional sports teams are engaging in reverse racism by hiring unqualified White coaches
B) Black coaches have shorter tenures in professional sports compared to their white counterparts
C) Only professional sports clubs with high goals are willing to hire minority coaches
D) It is believed that only white coaches can command the respect of their players
E) Minorities are not willing to put forward the money it takes to own a professional sports franchise where they can hire coaches from similar backgrounds

Question 24

Black success has been framed as achievable and acceptable in sports but not in other realms of society, such as business. This has been described as a kind of _______.

A) Symbolic racism
B) Athletic discrimination
C) Enlightened racism
D) Veiled racism
E) Situational bias

Question 25

In commenting on the segregated state of sports on university campuses, what term did Spence (1999) use to describe what college athletic departments have created?

A) Cultural hegemony
B) Athletic factories
C) Modern day plantations
D) Unequal playing fields
E) Militarized combat zones
True and False Questions:

Question 26

Sports are seen, by their very nature, as being inclusionary, integrative, and egalitarian.

Question 27

Sport is a representation of social relations, relations that are often unequal and embody the values and meanings of the dominant group, thereby creating and maintaining its hegemony.

Question 28

Racism in sports continues because, according to some particularly provocative theorists, the Black male body continues to evoke fear and a threatened feeling among the White population.

Question 29

It has been alleged that young White boys are increasingly afraid of competing in certain sports, like basketball and football, because of Black domination in these sports.

Question 30

Racial minorities formed their own teams and leagues after realizing that white athletes were not on the same level in sports like baseball, soccer, and cricket.

Question 31

Sports in Canada as currently organized began during the period of increased urbanization and industrialization.

Question 32

Elitist, paternalistic, and exclusionary attitudes and practices combined to create a colour bar in the Canadian sporting arena.

Question 33

In 2001, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights officially banned professional sports teams from using Aboriginal imagery. The practice no longer continues.

Question 34

In baseball, White players are over-represented in "thinking" positions, like pitcher.

Question 35

The realm of sports can also be viewed as a site of resistance where minority athletes challenge the status quo and racial inequality.