2011 State of the Union

This year’s state of union address was different than the past. For the first time Republicans and Democrats sat together for the President’s speech. The president speech talked about money being saved, the US expenses, education, future technology and the war in Afghanistan. For the financial portion of the speech Obama planned to freeze 400 billion dollars in spending, reduce health care expenses, increase tax on oil companies and reform social security. When talking about the future he pledged to have more electric cars by 2015, to have 80 percent of the country's electricity come from clean-energy sources by 2035, and to invest in biomedical research, information research and clean energy.

I would have to agree with the President where I think new energy plants can fix the economy by putting people to work from the energy power plants.

40 Million Dollar Slaves Final Post

In 2005 a group of current and former NBA players traveled to Mississippi and Louisiana to view the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane was a wake up call for NBA athletes because the hardest hit were black and poor, many of them having stayed behind because they could not evacuate. Many athletes on the trip were raised in Mississippi and other parts of the south. They knew first hand what it meant to live in the harsh conditions. Shareef Abdur-Rahim of the Sacramento Kings and Allan Houston the former New York Knick sat at a table discussing the crisis, as well as the problem of leadership among African American athletes. What was needed at this moment of crisis was a individual who could lead athletes to mobilize, rally and execute a plan of action. As President George Bush was to no help, the NBA players were looking for a Michael Jordan type figure to lead the troops. But the NBA players could not find a leader, where black athletes have failed to produce a leader who understands the potential to change the society for African Americans.

In the 19^th century winning meant survival. The next generation, the generation of Jackie Robinson, winning was gaining access. Now winning is a scholarship to a big school and a large pro contract. Lifestyle, high-profile employment and status have taken over the athletes we see today. Winning now for African Americans are to see more employment beyond the courts, fields and diamonds. 

40 Million Dollar Slaves # 5

As I am close to finishing the book I learned about the college recruiting process, where I learned things I never thought happened. I learned that recruiting was a big part of a colligate sports program where a few star athletes could turn a losing team into a money making, winning team skyrocketing revenue. The recruiting process  starts at a early age making future stars feel they are above the rest. Young athletes become accustomed to hearing “yes” all the time and having adults flatter over them , giving  them second and third chances because of the promise of their talents.  The end result sees that most young athletes are not given any restraints off the court. As whites and blacks both experience the recruiting process, the author explains that African Americans enter  a whole new society.

With college basketball prominently played by African Americans , the value placed on African Americans has escalated and the stakes in the recruiting game began to rise. Predominantly White colleges and universities which once banned or ignored black athletes were now going out of their way to bring African Americans on campus by any means necessary. As a athlete is being wanted by multiple schools it is not uncommon that a college with buy the player shoes, take him out to dinner, get him some nice clothes and maybe give him a car. As recruits are getting things they never had before there life’s are changing. They will go away from their origins and throw the past away. Many athletes who reached the professional or college level sometimes fear returning to the neighborhoods they grew up in.

In the chapter I read about former NBA All-Star Chris Webber who criticized black colleges for not having built a better foundation. Webber was the top high school recruit in 1992 and could choose any college he wanted to. He could of went to a historically black college and changed the program around but they could simply not compete. He chose Michigan and took his team to the Final Four. He says that the black colleges did not put themselves in a position of leverage during the time when they had a monopoly on black athletes. The star athletes are skipping out on a colleges where they would fit if not playing sports and are being attracted by prestige schools. These school  have the needs to attractive the blue chip black athletes such as better facilities, larger arenas, more up to date training centers, and TV contracts.

African Americans recruits  see different educations from high school to college. But the ones who are not on a scholarship do not get a opportunity to education to better themselves.  Do the school systems need to be improved in low-income cities to prepare all kids for the future?

40 Million Dollar Slaves # 4

I am almost finished with the book and I found a interesting chapter. In chapter 10 I read the story of Robert Johnson the first African American owner of a professional sports team. Johnson was not the first man to own a sports franchise as Rube Foster founded the Negro league in 1920. But Johnson purchase of the Charlotte Bobcats made him the first black majority owner. Johnson earned his wealth from starting the television station Black Entertainment Television also known as B.E.T. Johnson started with a loan of 15,000 dollars never thinking his business would grow to the empire it is today. B.E.T programmed Black College football games, music videos and gospel on Sunday mornings trying to serve to African American interests. The company was a hit and turned into a 24 hour program competing with MTV. Johnson took B.E.T. public and later sold the team for 3 billion dollars to Viacom. From slaves to playing sports African Americans where always the product, owned by the white owner. Rob Johnson success proved that a black man could run an empire and could put on a show like everyone else. 

  Johnson ownership brought the African American race one step closer but did not create a change of equality. Curt Flood made the connection that it wasn’t enough to be allowed to play the game but that history and the legacy it offered demanded that people must fight to change the system not just buy into it. Johnson was the first to buy into it and hopes other African Americans can spread the movement.

Why are there so few African American owners?

Did Robert Johnson favor African Americans?

40 Million Dollar Slaves #3

             After reading about African American men star athletes the story of a women athlete was told in chapter nine. Luisa Harris was the first great star of women’s basketball but she is forgotten about. Lusia played basketball in high school and continued to play at Delta State a school a few miles away from her hometown in Mississippi. At Delta State, Lusia was one of only few African Americans at the school leading her team to three consecutive AIAW championships. During Harris’s four varsity seasons her team was 109-6. She competed in the Olympics but did not pursue a professional career because she felt the competition was too much. In 1980 Harris found work playing for the Houston Angels of the Women’s Basketball League in 1980. When the team disbanded she returned to Delta State and worked as an admissions counselor. Lusia served as the Women’s Basketball assistant coach at Delta State from 1980-1984. But to her dismay when the job became available a white man was hired instead. Disappointed, Lusia left Delta State and took the head coaching job at Texas Southern a historically Black College in Houston. The experience at Texas Southern was brutal. The women’s program like so many other Black Institution lacked a much needed support. There were no assistant coaches and Lusia had to give up her pay when she missed a class to coach. She felt the Men’s Basketball program was treated better where they had a full staff and would fly to games.

                Title IX a law aimed at equalizing spending on women’s and men’s programs in educational institutions began to have an effect. Title IX improved coaches’ salaries, equipment was upgraded, budgets were increased, transportation was improved and Women’s sports finally were treated equal.

                Today the dilemma for black women athletes is played out graphically in a growing women sports movement that has seen white women gain and black woman weaken. African Americans have seen success in Women’s Basketball but only 2.7 % of African American women are receiving scholarships to play all other Division 1 sports. White Women have also enjoyed success in the sports industry as black women have lagged.

                Title IX and the 19^th Amendment have helped women to be treated equal to men. But abortion is still illegal, denying a women’s choice, are women today still being discriminated against?

40 Million Dollar Slaves #2

         I have just finished reading chapter 4 and have learned a lot. In this chapter I am learning that African Americans are starting to integrate in college football and are having success. But some colleges are still not accepting African Americans and it is hurting their programs. In the chapter examples of teams who were still not acceptable of African Americans in sports where suffering. In the 60’s the new era of African Americas in college sports resulted in success. In the 1960 college football saw quarterback Sandy Stephens an African American; lead the Minnesota Golden Gophers to the Rose Bowl. In the Championship game Michigan State won with a defense anchored by Texas natives Bubba Smith and George Webster both who were African American. College Basketball saw African Americans shine In 1966, when Texas Western an all-black starting lineup beat Adolph Rupp’s all white Kentucky team to win the national title. Integration into sports at the college level pushed African Americans into fame for their stellar athletic ability, but executive and coaching positions for African Americans were to no existence .Under the integration arrangement, many black institutions were dismantled or downsized; those educators who had been heads of departments frequently became assistants or were made heads of smaller divisions. Black head coaches became assistants’ coaches. As the coaches suffer so did the African American owners who lost money from the African Americans who left their leagues. Black talent and white ownership faced a power dynamic as black athletes constantly had to prove their worth. At the same time it destroyed the black industry practically eliminating every black person involved in sports including coaches, owners, trainers, accountants, lawyers, and secretaries.

         The NFL has the Rooney Rule in which NFL teams must interview a African American for a coaching Job. Only 5 Current Coaches in the NFL are African American. Are African Americans still seeing inequality off the field as they did in the 60’s?

Forty Million Dollar Slaves # 1

The book I chose to read was Forty Million Dollar Slaves by William C. Rhoden where the story of the up rise in African-Americans into sports is told. Being an avid sports fan I have been watching sports for many years. I had noticed that the NBA and NFL is made up of many African Americas and I also wonder why this was. Rhoden explains in his first chapter that today's African American athletes are focus on the present and must think of what their ancestors had to suffer and how they paved a path to put them in the position they are in today. As I began to read to book I learned that when sports where beginning whites dominated and participated in all sports. Slavery had blocked African Americans from playing sports until after the civil war. When slavery was abolished African Americans got here first chance to play sports. In the first chapter Rhoden portraits the story of African American Boxing. Tom Molineaux the first African American boxer story is told and how he impacted America. Tom Molineaux was born into slavery on a Virginia plantation and he challenge Tom Cribb in the first "Fight of the century". Tom Cribb was a white man and the boxing match was more than just a sport. The fight carried implications for the entire country as every African American felt they were fighting Tom Cribb. Tom Cribb winded up winning in the 11th round with a knockout, but America had seen sports in a whole new way. Molineaux did not win the boxing match but he won over America and a new prospective in sports. Three years later Jack Johnson became the first African American to win the heavy weight championship of boxing. After Johnson had won the title panic started over the African Americans rise in sports.


Where laws going to be put in place to regress African Americans sucsess.


Where Whites not ready to accept African Americans even though slavery had been abolished?
Is there a reason why African Americans dominate sports today?


Why do African Americans take up a large percent of the NBA and NFL but not the NHL(2.7%) or MLB(9%)?