“The practice of “black teamwork” is a form of black cultural politics that has gone nominally and conceptually unmarked in the history of black athletic protest.”
Although the author mentions this isn’t the first time Black athletes use their voice for civil rights mentioning John Carlos and Tommie Smith but looking wider to teams like the Bill Russell led Celtics and the Lou Alcindor now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar changed his name and began hanging out with civil rights leaders like Malcolm X.
“postwar suburbs were created through public and private processes of racial exclusion and antiblack sensibilities.”
The first suburb was Levittown was segregated and soccer flourished in this environment among white people. This is also because of the European heritage of the sport and its myth of European exceptionalism.
“The recruitment of Caribbean and African students marked a shift away from traditional NCAA recruitment practices that excluded and commodified black athletes.”
The Idea of African player coming to America and being recruited to colleges began in soccer and it is still a practice we see today from as young as high school. This list of African Basketball players includes Hakeem Olajuwon, Joel Embiid, Dikembe Mutombo, and Pascal Siakam, most often they recruit tall players as all these players listed are Centers or played center in their career.
