You don’t get to be a sports fan — to enjoy the spectacle of black excellence — and look away from what these athletes demand. These athletes saw the contradiction between American ideals of fairness and justice and their arbitrary application to people of color. But despite the undeniable prejudice some of them confronted, none truly faced the feisty assortment of bigotries that dogged the black athlete’s path. The thing that rich, talented and famous athletes can do is get others to follow them. Advertisement Continue reading the main storyIt is also important that privileged white people use their platforms to challenge inequality — and speak out against white fragility and indifference.

Source: New York Times October 21, 2017 18:30 UTC