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Section One: The Fundamentals
A) Keywords
Exercise 1:
Briefly (in 100 words or less) define one of the keywords in the padlet (including one that you. may have added yourself).
| Colourblindness: Colourblindness is described as the inability to see the colour of peoples skins around you. Many think that avoiding to see the colour of skin of the people around you is a good thing because they suggest that everyone is viewed and treated the exact same way. Although seeing everybody equal is a good trait to have, being colourblind to peoples skin does not acknowledge the amount of racism that black people undergo everyday. Instead, it is important that we recognize black people, and understand and work towards solving a systemic and discriminatory issue in our world.
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B) Representing Race
Exercise 2: Notebook Prompt
In about 50-70 words, consider Joel Bervell’s question: why do we feel the need to extrapolate the athleticism of one Black athlete to all Black people when we do not do the same for white athletes?
Try to think of examples when this happens, making sure to reflect on your own positionality.
| I completely agree with what Joel Bervell had to say in the TikTok. I have never thought about the situation how he explained it before. When he related Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt’s achievements, it really helped me understand how differently these people are treated when they are a good athlete, solely based on the colour of their skin. When I think about this situation, I think about the myth that all black people genetically are much more faster runners than white people are. Instead of praising these people for their hard work and determination to be the best athlete they can become, we talk about how their genetics “helped them become a faster runner” |
C) Gender, Race & Sport
Exercise 3: Notebook Prompt
What are some strategies for resistance that Rajack and Joseph identify in their article as a means of pushing back against and resisting misogynoir?
| Some strategies that Rajack and Joseph identified in their article include pushing back against the mainstream media. Osaka did a good job of this when a reporter mentioned that she needs to use more sunscreen because she is too dark. By pushing back against the media, Osaka can bring attention to the deeper rooted problems, and help make a change. Another strategy is that when these athletes use their social media platforms to speak on these problems, it helps more people become educated, and also helps similar athletes feel stronger to stand up.
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Section Two: Making Connections
A) Athlete Activism
Exercise 3: Padlet Prompt
Do athletes have a responsibility to use their platform for social change? Why or why not? Please remember to record your response in both the padlet below and in your Notebook.
Although professional athletes hold a large fan base and have many followers on their social media platforms, I do not think that they hold any more responsibility than the average person to talk about social change. I believe that athletes should use their social media platforms to promote what they want to promote. I do not think that the responsibility of advocating for social change should be held over athletes heads because there comes a point where athletes may speak on things not because they want to, but because they feel they have to. In my opinion, I don’t think being a successful, professional athlete with a large fan base should also mean that they need to advocate, protest and fight for certain situations within our world.
B) Athlete Activism & Feminism
Exercise 4: Complete the activities
Exercise 5: Notebook Prompt
What do the authors of the article call for as a way of challenging how mainstream sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns? (100 words max.)
| The authors are challenging mainstream sports journalism that privileges neoliberal feminist concerns by saying that there needs to be a broader outlook on the issues within women’s sports. When the basketball players of the WNBA took a stand on the “Black Lives Matter” movement, it was focussed on individual success, more than it was focused on the league entirety. The authors are explaining that sports journalism privileges neoliberal feminist concerns by portraying individual successes, rather than focusing on the fact that these athletes are standing up for entire communities. The authors are challenging this by saying that we need to focus on the bigger picture, not just the brave, individual women who stood up for something.
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C) Corporate social justice
Exercise 6: Padlet Poll
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I believe that sports leagues have some responsibility to support social movements such as the Black Lives Matter movement. Professional sports leagues make billions of dollars and are a large media source that people watch everyday. I think that these leagues standing up for these social movements can raise a lot of awareness within our world and promote change. It’s important these leagues stick up for their players, and support them when it is needed, rather than focus on the profit they are losing.
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Section Three: Taking a shot
Module Assignment (submit as part of notebook and separately through Blackboard mini assignment #1 portal)
I decided to watch Colin in Black And White for this assignment. The show conveys Colin Kaepernick’s life growing up playing sports, particularly in highschool as a young black boy living in a predominantly white community. In addition, the show also portrays Colin’s teenage years through his own, grown up narrative. Colin uses many strategies to speak out about the difficulties black people face everyday, in terms of their race and identity. For example, when Colin got cornrows in his hair, it made everyone around him uncomfortable, leading to his parents making him take them out. Colin recites his childhood through storytelling, symbolism, historical stories and more to allow the viewer to understand the difficulties he, and other black people faced, and still face. When athletes such as Colin Kaepernick use their voices in tv shows, it shows that they go beyond just being an athlete. They have the ability to influence many people with their words and actions. Colin does this by representing the difficulties he faced as a young black boy growing up, and how it shaped who he is today. The show represents the difficulties that Colin faced in terms of his identity and race. For example, when he played baseball, many umpires, and parents of other teams did not like Colin, for the fact that he was black. In Kevin Hylton’s article, the lecture slides examine how he talks about racism as social constructs. He explains that racism is not rare, and it has been made something normal. Although many athletes experience racism during sports, just like how Colin did while playing baseball and basketball, it portrays a larger community, such as black people as a whole (McGuire, 2025). These representations shape how a lot of people view sports and that there are many social, economic, and racial influences that go into shaping how every athlete’s experience is shaped.
References
Kaepernick, C., & DuVernay, A. (Executive Producers). (2021). Colin In Black And White [TV series]. Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/search?q=Colin%20in%20black%20and%20&jbv=80244479
McGuire, Kelly. (2025). Race, Gender, and Sport. [Online Lecture Notes]. Trent University Blackboard. https://trentu.blackboard.com/ultra/courses/_65307_1/cl/outline
