It’s MLK Day. There’s much to celebrate, but there’s also much to do.
Watch my video commentary or read below:
Happy birthday, Dr. King.
Had he not been cut down by a sniper’s bullet 40 years ago this spring, Martin Luther King Jr. would be 79 years young. Today is the day we celebrate the life of the civil rights leader. Nowhere is the change that he helped initiate more evident than in sports. Yet, nowhere is the work that remains more evident.
Sports is one of those places where the color of an athlete’s skin is less important than the color of his jersey. Oklahoma fans cheer Sam Bradford the same as DeMarco Murray. Oklahoma State fans love Brandon Pettigrew as much as Zac Robinson.
Sadly, though, racism remains in sports.
A couple weeks ago, a Golf Channel anchor joked that the only way to stop Tiger Woods might be to “lynch him in a back alley.” Then, in its coverage of that incident, Golfweek used a picture of a hangman’s noose on its cover.
More than 3,400 lynchings of black folks were documented from the late 19th century through 1968. Most of them were killed by mobs of whites who used a noose as their murder weapon.
Martin Luther King Jr. marched in the streets of the South so that the lynchings and the hangings would stop.
Four decades later, the images remain.
What would Dr. King think?
This weekend came more disturbing news. Former West Virginia offensive coordinator Calvin Magee has alleged that a school administrator told him he wouldn’t be a candidate to replace Rich Rodriguez, who jumped ship for Michigan. Why? Magee says the administrator pointed to Magee’s black skin as explanation.
Martin Luther King Jr. delivered hundreds of speeches so that the dreams of men and women would not be limited by their skin color.
Four decades later, the limitations remain.
What would Dr. King think?
He began the work, but on the day that we celebrate his birthday, it has never been more obvious that work remains. Sports is only a small fraction of society, and yet, it has always been a looking glass into what is right and wrong with society.
What would Dr. King think?
We’ve made strides, we’ve run a good race so far, but we’ve still got a ways to go before we reach that finish line.