(ThyBlackMan.com) Written in 2000…
With all the “talk” about college athletes not getting paid while coaches, directors, and universities earn billions in revenue, I thought I’d go back into the Blackonomics archives to find the following article. Although it has taken 13 years, I am glad to see this topic back in the public discourse; now let’s see if something is done about it. Talk is, indeed, very cheap.
Years ago our ancestors were enslaved on plantations and worked for their “owners” free of charge. They worked all day and much of the night, making their owners wealthy and securing the economic future of their children. Many times the slaves would be asked, or should I say, “ordered” to entertain the owners and their families by dancing, singing, and even playing games. In return for their work and their entertainment loomed the promise of good treatment and maybe even the wherewithal to purchase their freedom someday. An interesting analogy arises here.
Have you ever really thought about the situation many of our Black college athletes are in today? In my opinion, they are slaves too. Many of them are used to make millions of dollars for their masters – their schools and their coaches – with the dream of one day being able to purchase their freedom
with a multi-million dollar contract.
Black high school athletes are lured to various schools and wooed by coaches to play the games that bring windfalls to their schools. They are given scholarships, but they are often times given “passes” on having to make the grade when it comes to academics. As long as they score touchdowns, runs, and baskets they stay in good standing with the school. As long as they keep bringing in the bucks for the school, everything is fine.
The case made by many school officials is that these athletes get thousands of dollars in tuition and board, via scholarships. This is great, as long as those scholarships also provide our youth with the kind of education that will allow them to have a bright future, you know, just in case they do not get that professional contract. It seems to me the schools have some obligation to assure the student athlete does not get so mesmerized on turning professional that he or she neglects academic progress.
Some schools are doing just that, I admit, but too many are just bringing in the slaves, using them to create wealth for the new plantations and setting them free after four years. A very small percentage of the athletes will get that pro contract; but professional teams will never even consider an overwhelming majority of those athletes.
Sad to say, we sit back and allow this ridiculous plantation system to continue and flourish, all on the backs of our children. Consider this: many coaches at these colleges make one million dollars or more annually. If they even buy their top athlete a lunch or pay for him to go home for the holidays, the coach may be slapped on the wrist, but the athlete gets suspended or, in some cases, loses a scholarship. If this is not plantation education, I don’t know what is.
In other words, “All we want you to do, Black athlete, is play and make money for us. Yes, you can have your dream of turning pro, even though there is a miniscule chance of that dream coming true, but your work on the field and in the gym are the most important aspects of your life. Our coaches get the endorsements and the fat contracts from the revenue you generate, and you get to work, uh, I mean, play.”
I know this has been brought up many times before, but we can never bring it up enough. We must continue to look for ways to change the system that enslaves our youth and does not allow them to benefit from their own labor. How about some reparations for the athletes who have made so much money for these schools and coaches? I think of Dr. Claud Anderson’s book, Black Labor – White Wealth. Some things never change.
Now, here are some words for the athlete who does get that professional contract. Please don’t stay on the plantation by running to the Jerry Maguires of the world and giving them a percentage of your earnings. There are many Black sports agents, accountants, and lawyers from which you can choose. Seek them out and do business with them. The only way we can get off the plantation is pool our money and buy our freedom. We must circulate our money among our own people and help one another. Congratulations to those Black athletes who are following this very basic principle of economic empowerment.
I hope all concerned Black parents will consider these words when it comes to their child going to college on a scholarship. Don’t let them be new slaves on new plantations. Stay on them about excelling in their academics as well as their athletics. They can use both, and they always need a fallback position – an alternative plan.
We don’t need plantation education. Pay these gifted athletes for their services. Yes, pay them in addition to their scholarships. There are other students on scholarships that do not earn one dime for their colleges. So the scholarship excuse does not hold water. I say, share the wealth, plantation owners. Stop the enslavement of our youth.
Written By James E. Clingman
Official website; http://www.blackonomics.com