The Visibility of Social Justice in Sports
By Nia Harris
Introduction
The intersection of social justice awareness and athletes’ platforms is sparking change in society. Sports is a tool that unifies people from all backgrounds and walks of life. Athletes are using their platform to create a stance and support bringing attention to social injustices. The visibility of social justice issues and the sports industry’s platform is cultivating change in the community.
Creating building blocks for justice is nothing new to Julie Rousseau. Aligning paths for the next generation is motivation for her being an advocate in her community. Rousseau has a genuine aurora and passion that fills the room when you’re in her presence. Educating athletes about issues in diverse communities and being an advocate for the youth makes her line of work perfect for igniting the passion for change. Her journey as a women’s Assistant Coach for the Los Angeles Sparks, Head Coach at Pepperdine University and Assistant Coach at Stanford University has sharpened her knowledge of connecting sports and real life situations.
Working at University of Southern California as the Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion she uses her platform to spread awareness to issues in underrepresented communities. She strives to be a light, changing society’s views on community issues. Her influence is seen through a variety of work, collaborating with others to pursue building a better environment. The sports industry allows her and athletes to use their platforms to address issues in society.
Examples of Athletes
Athlete activism is nothing new in sports. Players for many years have taken a stand in social justice talks. Over the history of sports there’s been a multitude of players who’ve bravely stood against injustices in society.
For example, in 1947, Jackie Robinson was the first African American athlete to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. He was an activist for the civil rights movement. Tommie Smith and John Carlos, American sprinters who publicly took a stance to bring awareness to racial injustice during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Bill Russell, famous NBA player known for speaking out against racism and societal injustices. He also was a trailblazer being the first Black head coach in all American professional sports. In recent years, 2016, NFL player Colin Kaepernick peacefully showed support for social justice by kneeling during the national anthem. The action caused a frenzy in the sports world. Kaepernick's kneeling was a courageous stance that led to other athletes around the world in all levels of sports showing their support by kneeling during the national anthem. Today there’s a constant demonstration of athletes such as Lebron James, Michael Bennett, Kyrie Irving, and many others who are actively using their platforms to invoke change in the community.
Athlete's Platforms/Social Media
Athletes have a major influence on society and now are expected more than ever to speak out. Players are put on a pedestal and given an unspoken responsibility to become public spokesman. Using their leadership roles to activate others to take a stand. The use of social media allows players and organizations to use their platforms to spread knowledge and bring to light injustices that constantly occur.
Ex-NFL player, Joshua Symonette says, “I think the biggest change is that the players have more of a voice because of social media. With the increased media attention and with the opportunity for players to create a platform for themselves and leverage those platforms, it's changed the game.” Social media provides a wide spread space that is not just limited to America but educating others on societal injustices and how people can help to bring an end to discrimination around the world. Just as the sports industry has the power to provoke emotion towards the game it also has the power to spread awareness of inequalities across the world.
2020 Pandemic
The year 2020 brought many unexpected occurrences such as the pandemic but it also stimulated social justice movements. The killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd sparked outrage over the nation due to police brutality. The issue of police brutality in the Black community is a recurring problem that needs to cease the inhumane acts upon Black people. Protests and riots spurred across the states in solidarity with demanding justice. Athletes from all levels of sports knew that with their platforms they could enact change in the community.
“So now you go to 2020. One of the things that I think did change was that more student athletes particularly saw professional athletes, you know, speaking out, using their platform. Student athletes began to say, wait a minute, why not us? Why are we not kind of joining in on the conversation of amplifying the injustices that are happening within our own community? And so I think for the first time, there was a huge concentration of student athletes at the college level using their platform,” says Rousseau. She discusses the increasing acknowledgement of injustice that led to a surplus of athletes joining in support of combating these injustices. Not everyone is in agreement with athletes speaking out on societal issues. Some believed sports and other realms of society should remain separate. Speaking out, possibly could lead to athletes ending their careers or being black balled by teams, organizations, and fans.
Trending/Reputation
“When you saw, you know, see these young people use their platform and really put themselves, I guess in some ways they're putting their careers on the line in order to speak out. I think we have to, one, celebrate that, acknowledge that, and continue to encourage that,” Rousseau expresses.
Although, some aren’t in agreement with sports intersecting with other societal subjects it is inevitable. Sports figures themselves are a part of different cultural backgrounds that are being affected by social injustices. Speaking out and highlighting the issues are ways for athletes to demonstrate that they are still regular people as well but they also have the power of influence to help with the greater good. Taking advantage of their platforms to initiate change is a step in the right direction.
Being the A.D. for DEI, allows the opportunity to create safe spaces for student athletes to talk about injustices they have experienced and also shed light on things that are occurring within their communities. She educates them on ways to make their communities better.
Purpose
Sports and societal education advocacy are Rousseau’s purpose. Her background in coaching women’s basketball has provided her the chance to be a role model for other women in the sports world. “I love the opportunity to coach and guide young women using the tool of basketball,” she says. Basketball has been an element of unity between student athletes and Rousseau. She’s used her platform as a coach and her current position as an associate athletic director to build characteristics of mindful and attentive athletes. “Sports might be their passion, but if you have an opportunity to help someone else, why wouldn't you use your platform for that,” she states.
Being an African American woman and having a career in the sports industry brings its own set of challenges. Rousseau didn’t let the odds stop her from becoming a leader in her community. She leveraged the popularity of sports to create possibilities to champion the underdogs. “And so I think about the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And sports are not devoid of any kind of social unrest. When you look at the disparities in terms of hiring of Black and brown coaches and administrative and leadership positions, there's some social injustices there. There's discrimination there. And so you can't just, you know, separate it. I think that if you are a living and breathing human being, you have a right to speak out about social injustices,” Rousseau voices.
Julie Rousseau
Joshua Symonette
Jarrett Nobles
Social Justice Programs
Julie Rousseau is actively involved in the community helping to shed light on underrepresented communities. On the campus of USC, she has been a part of diversifying the campus and partnering with other organizations to promote social justice. In 2020-2021 she was the chair of the USC Black Lives Matter Action Team.
“Our United Black Student Athletes Association, which was formed by our Black student athletes and allies, presented 12 recommendations to our athletic director, Mike Bowen. So immediately Mike Bowen responded and created the USC athletics Black Lives Matter Action Team… We took those 12 recommendations and really tried to put action to them. The one was a very simple statement that Black Lives Matter and our athletic director immediately, unequivocally said, stated that Black Lives Matter.”
Her eagerness to spread awareness for social justice and creating safe spaces for athletes has led to the Pac 12 conference incorporating jobs tailored to diversifying campuses all around. “So, there wasn't just a moment… It now has moved from the USC athletics, Black Lives Matter Action Team to what I'm doing now, which is called Associate Assistant Director for Diversity Equity Inclusion. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that this position that I'm in now was mandated by the PAC 12 and their S.A.L.T impact leadership, which is S.A.L.T stands for student athlete leadership team at the PAC 12 leader level that all 12 institutions have now a DEI officer in its athletic department.”
Partnering with others to create movements of justice on campus and collaborating with other marginalized communities, they have been able to expand the involvement of different cultural communities. “We've been able to sustain our work to increase not only the United Black Student Athletes Association. We have an AAPI affinity group, which is for Asian, American and Pacific Islanders. We are international student athletes, have an affinity group, are Latinx and Hispanic affinity groups, LGBTQ plus religious and spiritual life. All of these are groups that we've extended. We use the blueprint of what we did with the USC athletics, Black Lives Matter Action Team, and we've now extended it to other minoritized groups who need that support as well, who need to know that there's a place and space for them to kind of talk about, amplify some of the issues that are going on within those communities,” says Rousseau.
Photograph by Kelly Lacy (Pexels)
Conclusion
Bringing awareness to injustices in society is an ongoing process that takes time. People such as Rousseau are producing stepping stones for upcoming student athletes to resolve issues of social injustice. With the visibility of social justice in sports, it helps speed up the process and involve more people to not only speak about change but demand action for change. The power of sports spreads way beyond on the field and on the court. Athletes using their platforms to support communities has the ability to change the world. Rousseau leaves with a few words of advice, "Don't shy away from it and know that there will be obstacles... People are listening and I encourage you to speak up when things are not right and shed light on situations in order to make real sustainable change."
