How Past and Present Sports Protests Reveal America’s Racist Reality

Sports has a long history of revealing America’s racist reality

By Steve Bynum
BLACK HISTORY GAME CHANGERS JOHNSON
In this 1932 file photo, boxer Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, poses in New York City. Black athletes have been finding a way to fight for social change for more than 100 years, from Jack Johnson, to Muhammad Ali to Kaepernick. AP Photo
BLACK HISTORY GAME CHANGERS JOHNSON
In this 1932 file photo, boxer Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, poses in New York City. Black athletes have been finding a way to fight for social change for more than 100 years, from Jack Johnson, to Muhammad Ali to Kaepernick. AP Photo

How Past and Present Sports Protests Reveal America’s Racist Reality

Sports has a long history of revealing America’s racist reality

By Steve Bynum
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Many of the world’s major sports leagues now support the Back Lives Matter movement.

Journalist and sports historian, Dave Zirin, tells Reset how past and present moments of sports protest intersect and illuminate the American reality.

GUEST: Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, host of the Edge of Sports Podcast, author of the forthcoming book, The Kaepernick Effect