Black boys should see success beyond athletics

Growing up, our boys were sometimes asked why they didn’t “act black.” There are plenty of stereotypes wrapped up in that one distressingly parochial question; in some instances, it related to their athletic pursuits. They played soccer, one was a thrower in track, but beyond the pee wee levels, none played basketball. None of them played football.

Athletic ability limited any aspirations our sons might have had toward sports as a path to advance themselves. Their father and I were privileged with the opportunity and resources to pursue college, and that’s the direction we pointed them in. We saw education as the foundation for a better life, and that became their competitive goal.

Two recent articles are reminders that it’s still not always the case. In The Atlantic, Alana Semuels wrote about African-American families who see football as the best option for advancing their sons’ future despite the physical risks. Former National Football League player Martellus Bennett focused in the Washington Post on the need to elevate more models of success beyond athletics for African-American boys.

I am a big believer in sports for kids. Done right, they can be a motivator, a path to better health, and a crucial classroom of their own. But making the informed decision to play a sport is different from perceiving athletics as the only viable professional option.

While college is not for everyone, career preparation leading to a safe, sustainable profession earning a living wage should be, and the number of people who will find that through professional sports is minute. Meanwhile, our society has not resolved the dissonant voices that cheer athletes when they risk their well-being for the entertainment of others but condemn them for taking a stance on issues of substance, reinforcing the value of the body but not the brain.

Joy Gaston Gayles, a professor of higher education at North Carolina State University, has focused much of her career on the interaction of colleges and student-athletes, particularly students of color. Sports can have real value in the lives of young athletes, Gayles said. She herself played Division II softball. Problems arise, however, when those athletes are not also seen as students whose education needs to be valued.

“You learn so much from a playing a sport, but often we don’t teach students to transfer those skills to other domains,” she said. “We need to show young athletes you aren’t just good at sports. You’re good at a lot of things.”

For the many who will never play athletics at an elite level, there is the need to make them aware of an alternative realm of probabilities. As Gayles said, “helping people realize all of the different things they can become and not just an athlete.”

Bennett urges that African-American boys be allowed to “dream differently.”

He said, “Accept them for who they show you that they really are. When you look at black boys, see them as the future writers, composers, chefs, tech moguls, presidents, film directors, architects, illustrator or fashion designers that they are. The world is more beautiful when we let black boys dream big.”

It isn’t only about dreaming, of course. Plenty of systemic impediments exist. Along with the efforts of parents and community partners to build them up, legitimate opportunities have to exist for African American boys, including affordable and accessible options for career training and higher education. Along with that, society must stop sending them the message that we overvalue their bodies and undervalue their minds. Bennett is right — we will all benefit from their aspirations.

Community columnist Aleta Payne of Cary is executive director of Johnson Service Corps, a community of young adults committed to social justice and spiritual growth.

This story was originally published March 4, 2019 at 2:07 PM.