Abstract
Sports hold a special place in the hearts of many Americans. Indeed, athletic competition has come to define and shape our understanding in many ways of what it means to be American. There is, however, a dark side to sports and that is the racial tension that often consumes our understanding of athletic competition and the equality of athletic prowess and personal ability. Seemingly innocuous, sports bring to the forefront racial sentiments about innate superiority, that certain types of people are better athletes simply by the nature of their being born. In his book Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We Are Afraid to Talk about It, John Entine posits that innate genetic differences amongst peoples leads to certain racial groups excelling at particular sporting events. It is the intent of this paper, through a close examination of Entine’s theoretical arguments, to demonstrate that science and genetic experimentation have proven that natural biological variation amongst and between peoples cannot be used to validate claims of innate racial superiority in athletic competition.
Recommended Citation
Kerr, Ian B.
(2010)
"The Myth of Racial Superiority in Sports,"
The Hilltop Review: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol4/iss1/4
