Law prof: football exploits black bodies
Bethany Salgado
Texas Campus Correspondent
@bethanysalgado
on Nov 12, 2015 at 2:58 PM EDT
According to the professor, “guarantee games” give small historically black colleges and universities incentive to play in games they know they will lose.
According to a St. Louis University School of Law professor, racism is permeating college football by “exploiting black bodies.”
Aaron Taylor, an assistant professor at the St. Louis University School of Law, recently alleged that one-sided football games perpetuate racist exploitation for the benefit of white people.
According to The Daily Caller, Taylor views so-called “guarantee games” as the product of small football team schools traveling to big football program schools to play in almost guaranteed losses because they get paid a hefty check. This gives major football schools an easy win while the losing team gets a nice payment to support their athletic programs.
Taylor wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “They [guarantee games] only continue a history, literally and symbolically, of exploiting black bodies for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful while increasing the potential for legal liability among the colleges least able to afford it.”
The professor claims that many guarantee games are played by historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) which are eager to get those game paychecks since they often face financial troubles.
“My article focused principally on HBCUs, but guarantee games are a systematic problem,” Taylor told Campus Reform. “The problem transcends HBCUs and even football. The highest risks, however, are presented in football.”
In addition to this monetary incentive which disadvantages HBCUs, Taylor wrote that players risks during those games are significantly higher than in an evenly matched game, resulting in more frequent and severe injuries.
“The games are not premised as competitive contests, and that lack of competitiveness creates higher risks, as do the vast disparities in program resources,” Taylor said in his article. He argues that players from HBCUs are equivalent to sacrificial lambs.
The professor explained to Campus Reform that although he does not have any data to support his claims of higher risks, “the principle underlying my assertion is intuitive.”
Should those safety risks exceed what is reasonably expected when playing football, Taylor continued, students should be holding their schools, sports conferences, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association accountable for whatever injuries the players incur.
http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6968
