Each week, The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education will provide links to online articles that may be of interest to our readers. The links presented direct the reader to articles from many different points of view that deal with issues of African Americans in higher education. The articles selected do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board of JBHE.
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RE ‘Statistic of the Week’ comparing the 1987 to 2017 African American major league baseball players (17.7% to 8.5%): no one is taking black boys to the ball park. Baseball is considered too slow, and un-glamorous; if you have no one to sit quietly and watch with you — male or female, or, no one discusses it or play it with you, you cannot develop a love of or interest in the game. In addition to my father, brothers and uncles (grandfather was not a sports fan), both my mother and grandmother knew AL and NL rosters and stats.
MLB players are no competition for the overpaid prima donnas known throughout the NBA and NFL. No one is giving our boys the 4-1-1 about their statistical chances of becoming Russell Westbrook or Russell Wilson. The over-50% drop in a 30-year span is about the allure of glam and glitter versus slow, steady attention and encouragement; the desire to be seen, as opposed to the personal rewards of being able to do.
In the words of the 45th president of the United States: sad.