Elite athletes who politicize their platform can shift national movements

Evidence

Muhammad Ali was no politician, but he knocked out the myth that the world of sport is segregated from the realm of politics. In doing so, Ali crushed the same limiting binaries with his fists that Edward Said did with his pen. Ultimately, he proved that two spheres believed to be diametrically opposed and segregated could be harmoniously integrated. That, more than anything, was Ali’s most prophetic message. … The modern case of American football player Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee to stand up for racial justice, testifies to the indelible impact of Ali’s message and to the transformative effect that sports, and athletes told to “shut up and play,” can have on the world if they speak up. So impactful that, during moments of profound change, sports and politics can blur into one undeniable force for progress. — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1058

Categorization

• SEED: Possible essay angle: the ‘shut up and play’ athlete as a recurring figure across national Islamophobia contexts — Ali in the US, and whether analogous sports figures emerged in French/Indian Muslim communities.