Are black athletes wasting their considerable wealth? Sportswriter William C. Rhoden thinks so.
Because February is Black History Month, I thought it was a perfect time to discuss whether black athletes are failing to use their money and influence to significantly tackle the social ills still plaguing the black community.
Rhoden adds a powerful voice to this debate. It’s why I’ve chosen his book “Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete” (Crown, $23.95) for the February Color of Money Book Club.
Rhoden’s book raises provocative questions about wealth and responsibility. Such questions are particularly important to ask of those among us who have been blessed with considerable economic resources.
Rhoden, who is African-American, has been a sportswriter for The New York Times since 1983. He’s been up close and personal with the best-paid black athletes in this country. In his new book, Rhoden gives a much needed slap-down to wealthy, spoiled and socially unconscious African-American professional sports figures.
Rhoden acknowledges that calling millionaire athletes slaves would stir up controversy. Even so, he says he uses that term because these players’ professional lives are controlled by white team owners.
Rhoden doesn’t just criticize white sports-team owners. He spends more time criticizing black athletes for not being more vocal about social issues.
We shouldn’t strive to be like Mike, according to Rhoden. Because what exactly has Michael Jordan stood up for off the basketball court? Well, little more than making money and hawking products, Rhoden argues. Jordan has again and again chosen commercialism over community and political advocacy, he says.
Rhoden says today’s black athletes like Jordan “have abdicated their responsibility to the community with an apathy that borders on treason.”
“More than politicians or clergy, contemporary black athletes have unfettered access to young minds, even when at times they seem to have lost their own,” he says. ” … their reach could potentially extend so much wider, and deeper.”
Rhoden feels black athletes did not do enough when Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of families, many of them black. He notes that no one really stepped up to “galvanize the collective power of African-American professional athletes to create a more far-reaching initiative.”
Rhoden proposes creating a national organization of professional black athletes to use their wealth and influence to help improve the economic condition of many black folks who can’t afford to even go to their games.
I agree with Rhoden: To whom much is given, much is required.
Contact Michelle Singletary at singletarym@washpost.com or c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071.
