Sport mirrors real life: The biases are real

Who comes to mind when you picture a leader?

“Leadership is a lifelong pursuit — a sacred quest that may never be achieved. But in the end, it is the pursuit itself that counts.” – Luis Elizondo.

Challenging the status quo is risky business. Keep asking questions and you will eventually be told – “Sit down and Shut up”. You are making people uncomfortable. No one is listening. Sing for your supper. He who pays the piper calls the tune.

Is that the reality in the world of international sports? Know your place, sit down, shut up and let people like you; the status quo and power structure must remain the same.

Recently, I read an article by Cory Collins (it was written in 2018). Usually, when I am trying to wrap my head around a situation, I seek solace in reading. Some may call it research. Such was the case as I contemplated the results of the recent Pan Am Sport presidential election won by Neven Illic 37-16.

Ilic defeated Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) president Keith Joseph. Caribbean NOCs exercised their democratic right. No more than five Caribbean NOCs voted for Joseph. The deed is done. The Caribbean NOCs all know their individual why. Que Sera Sera!!

Getting back to the Cory Collins article. Collins made this point: “White privilege exists because of historic, enduring racism and biases. Therefore, defining white privilege also requires finding working definitions of racism and bias.

Collins used a definition from Matthew Clair and Jeffrey S. Denis’s “Sociology on Racism” where racism is defined as “individual and group-level processes and structures that are implicated in the reproduction of racial inequality”. Systemic racism happens when these structures or processes are carried out by groups with power. Racism differs from bias, which is a conscious or unconscious prejudice against an individual or group based on their identity.

Collins asserts that racial bias is a belief. Racism is what happens when that belief translates into action. Colonialism and slavery were based on the notion that black people are inferior and fundamentally different from those of another—and they should be treated accordingly. Ideas of Africans as inferior and backwards can be traced back to those justifying slavery in the 18th century.

“What Is White Privilege?” Frances E. Kendall, author of Diversity in the Classroom and Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, posited: “Having greater access to power and resources than people of colour [in the same situation] do”

Research on cognition has shown that negative messages have a bigger impact than positive ones, our brains are hard-wired to respond more to frightening than to positive stimuli (which might explain why social media and mainstream media are filled with negative stories).

The United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent is an entity of the United Nations whose purpose is to contribute to the political, economic, and social inclusion of Afro-descendant individuals.

It was created by consensus of the UN General Assembly on August 2, 2021, through resolution 75/3141 at the request of the former Vice President of Costa Rica, Epsy Campbell Barr.

An effective leader understands the difference between a tactical loss and a strategic gain.

Sport mirrors real life. The biases are real. The status quo prevails. Regardless of the barriers. Still, we rise. Against all odds. We rise. The glass ceiling will one day be broken.

A real leader has the courage to stand up and be counted even when it’s unpopular.

Sport is often celebrated as a great equaliser but it can be used to systemically exclude or discriminate.

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