Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

In 2005, the American Psychological Association called for the immediate ban on all Native American mascots, saying that an increasing body of evidence shows that such imagery and language harms not only the “the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people” but also teaches “non-Indian children that it's acceptable to participate in culturally abusive behavior and perpetuate inaccurate misconceptions about American Indian culture.” https://www.whytheracecardisplayed.com/post/the-kansas-city-chiefs-in-super-bowl-liv-will-shine-so-will-their-fans-racism

Early in the film, we see a clip of the late sports commentator Jimmy Snyder explaining the prowess of African American male athletes according to a wildly offensive yet common eugenicist’s framework: “The slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman, so that he could have a big black kid, see. I mean, that’s where it all started.” The barely-visible sliver of truth in Snyder’s statement is that there is indeed a slave/master dynamic at play in professional sports, where black players especially are seen as the property not only of the league but of the majority white fans who crowd the stadiums and mainly white commentators who speculate in elaborate studios paid for by major corporations.