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The debt we owe to black athletes

NPR’s Frank Deford asks: Does Obama owe a debt to blacks in sports?

The answer of course is yes. Obama owes a debt to every man or woman who fought to end racial discrimination and to be judged on their merits, and that certainly includes those who pioneered a desegregated world of sports. Ironically, Barak Obama’s current popularity cannot possibly be attributed to his merits alone. He is too inexperienced to have made it this far if he were not tall, dark, and handsome. Being a skilled orator does not mean that one is a substantive man, and the content of Obama’s character is still largely unknown. It is a disservice to equate him to Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, or Michael Jordan. But he definitely does owe them a debt, as these were the men who helped define the public recognition of excellence and leadership by American blacks. Though Obama has not shown himself worthy of carrying their torch, he certainly sees by its light.

I find it depressing to hear people say that Senator Obama is breaking down barriers. So far, all I have seen him do is be the first to step through a barrier that had been knocked down by hard working and sometimes unrecognized men and women over the last half century. But I will admit that the symbolism of his candidacy is important to America. Seeing a (partly) black man as the nominee for one of the two major political parties probably does more for the worldview of young people than did the first election of a black governor (L. Douglas Wilder) or member of Congress (Joseph Rainey) or first appointment of a black cabinet member (Robert C. Weaver) or Supreme Court Justice (Thurgood Marshall). It might do as much for them as it did for young white children to be able to look up to Jackie Robinson or Bill Russell, when earlier generations couldn’t have imagined doing so.

Deford makes an interesting point, in my opinion. But I would really like to live to see the day that a black man can run for president without his blackness being noteworthy. That is the debt we all owe to black pioneers in sports -- and every other aspect of life.