Abstract

Using The Players’ Tribune, we interpret how NBA players discuss race within a racialized sporting organisation that is celebrated and marketed as cosmopolitan and a model for social engagement. We find that during the Black Lives Matter movement players draw on and move between varied visions of sport, the NBA, and its relationship to race. Players reject post-racial conceptions of sport and society and highlight the realities of structural racism and interpersonal prejudice within the NBA and society. At the same time, players affirm notions of the NBA as removed from social problems and a leader for positive racial dialogue. These discursive shifts and collisions indicate that while individualistic and less critical conceptions of sport and race persistently circulate, they are also vulnerable to more race-conscious, structural, and critical articulations. Thus, we argue player engagement with sport, race, and politics on platforms like TPT help set the stage for the current wave of anti-racist actions and statements from high-profile athletes across global sport post-2020 and is linked to how the NBA politically orients itself as a racialized professional sports organisation.

摘要

使用玩家论坛报，我们解释了 NBA 球员如何在一个种族化的体育组织中讨论种族，该组织被称为国际化和社会参与的典范。我们发现，在“黑人的命也是命”运动中，球员们在运动、NBA 及其与种族的关系的不同愿景之间不断发展。球员们拒绝体育和社会的后种族观念，并强调 NBA 和社会中结构性种族主义和人际偏见的现实。与此同时，球员们肯定了 NBA 的观念已经摆脱了社会问题，是积极的种族对话的领导者。这些话语的转变和碰撞表明，虽然个人主义和不那么批判的运动和种族概念持续流传，但它们也容易受到更具种族意识、结构性和批判性的表达的影响。因此，TPT帮助为 2020 年后全球体育界知名运动员的当前反种族主义行动和声明奠定了基础，并与 NBA 如何在政治上将自己定位为一个种族化的职业体育组织有关。