I read, “John ‘Army’ Howard, Canada’s First Black Olympian: A Nation Building Paradox.” I found it very interesting and the story of John ‘Army’ Howard to be very interesting because of the paradox of ideals that came from Canadian nationalists. I did know across the world there were racial struggles similar to the United States as it pertains to sports. I also knew that it was hard for black athletes during this time period to even get a shot at competing on the highest level possible.
One of the things I did not know coming into this reading was how the Canadian nationalists tried to separate the man from the athlete. To not see someone as an equal but to want them to succeed in a sport is something that does not make much sense to me but it is something John ‘Army’ Howard had to go through. I feel like that is something that people still do today even over a hundred years later, you love a player when he plays well but you hate him when he. underperforms or makes a mistake. I am not super knowledgeable on Canadian racial history but from what I can get from this reading is there is so much internal conflict with this decision, for example, this quote from the reading says “Canadian Olympic medal transcended any objection there might have been about sending a black man, an immigrant at that, to represent a white nation.” I feel like this encapsulates so much of what this reading was about and I was able to learn something new from it.
Another part that was new to me was the fact that there can be so much racial tension between a coach and a player and they are just able to go along with everything. Coming into this reading I knew nothing about John ‘Army’ Howard and his story and to also see how they did not mention that there was a black man on the Olympic team in advertising tells me so much about Canadian society at this time. Both of these incidents are new concepts to me because the American story of diverse sports teams is a little different in the approaches that were taken.
