Athletic visibility can legitimate racial inequality by implying no barriers exist

Evidence

Given the persistence of race and racism in American culture, the prominence of African-American athletes thus tends to serve one of three racializing functions. One is that attention to African American athletic success can deflect attention away from, obscure, or minimize the more general problems of racial inequality and racism. Secondly and even worse, the cultural prominence of African-American athletes can be used to legitimate existing racial inequalities by making it seem as if there are no racial barriers standing in the way of African-American mobility and assimilation. If in sport, the thinking goes, why not in other social spheres? The third point has to do with the claim that images of African-American athletes are thoroughly racialized, indelibly linked with the racial stereotypes that permeate the culture. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2770

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘if in sport, why not elsewhere?’ legitimation logic parallels the reader’s work on how exceptions to structural inequality are used to deny its existence.