#WeAreTrayvonMartin: the racially packaged NBA commodity and the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin

Dunne, Stephen

doi:10.1080/17430437.2016.1221934

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…James’ comments were then critiqued, especially amongst “stick to sports” influencers, for placing revenue over human rights, especially when juxtaposed with his outspoken activist and community work combating the problem of police brutality in the United States. James and his Miami Heat teammates wore hoodies in solidarity over the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 (Dunne, 2017). However, in this particular context, James did not join in supporting the Hong Kong protest of the Chinese government or the treatment of the Uighur Muslim people.…”

Section: Nba/china Rupturementioning

confidence: 99%

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

Burroughs,

Nettingham,

Nourse

2023

Journal of Sport and Social Issues

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This research aims at unpacking the discourse of “stick to sports,” which audiences and industry wield to police social and cultural boundaries involving corporate control, race, gender, and politics. The “stick to sports” discourse is increasingly prevalent in sports discourse, but also national political discourse, and is used to dictate who can and cannot speak and what kinds of discussions are appropriate concerning sports and politics. In this article, the sports media franchise ESPN and their “No-Politics” policy, media personality Clay Travis’ PragerU polemic, Dan Le Batard, and Jemele Hill are analyzed as sites for understanding how corporations leverage this discourse to claim neutrality or unity while disciplining employees for veering too far politically. This paper analyzes “stick to sports” through industry practices and textual extensions of the discourse, calling for sports media and communication as a discipline to incorporate a critical sports media industry studies (CSMIS) approach.

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Section: Nba/china Rupturementioning

confidence: 99%

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

Burroughs,

Nettingham,

Nourse

2023

Journal of Sport and Social Issues

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“…James, a 4× NBA Champion and NBA Superstar, published a statement on Twitter that garnered national attention due to the photo and hashtags that were included. Dunne (2017) notes, James published a tweet that included a photo of him with his Miami Heat teammates, along with the hashtags #WeAreTrayvonMartin, #Hoodies, #Stereotyped and #WeWantJustice. In the photo, each player is wearing a hoodie and staring down at the ground in a sombre [sic] moment.…”

Section: Black Lives Matter: a Statement Or A Question?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This trivial concept of the Black body being the criminal site of savagery that must be controlled by paternalistic oversight seemingly led to Zimmerman’s assumption that Martin was guilty until proven innocent. In addition, reactions to Trayvon Martin’s shooting sparked a range of discussions and imagery related to the NBA and its commodification of Black masculinity (Dunne, 2017).…”

Section: Black Lives Matter: a Statement Or A Question?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Heritage Strikes Back: Athlete Activism, Black Lives Matter, and the Iconic Fifth Wave of Activism in the (W)NBA Bubble

Williams

2021

Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

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On August 26, 2020, the sporting world experienced a monumental return of athlete activism when National Basketball Association (NBA) players executed a boycott of the playoffs as a result of heightened frustration after video evidence of the unjust police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, surfaced on social media on August 23, 2020. NBA players (followed by WNBA players) decided to cease play and enter into discussions with league officials to garner a deal that intertwined the promotion of the Black Lives Matter movement with that of the (W)NBA playoffs; players demanded that the (W)NBA playoffs ground zero for Black Lives Matter promotion and social justice initiatives. As the “fifth wave” of athlete activists stormed the sporting world, their demand for dialogic practices is starkly different than the pioneers of the past, while also aiming to accomplish the general mission of the Heritage—racial equality through athlete activism. This article aims to analyze the new frontier of athlete activism through a Critical Race Theory lens by analyzing the ways in which the implementation of dialogic practices led to one of the most iconic waves of athlete activism in sport history.

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“…Although the NBA gladly markets Black players as a “safe commodity for mainstream audiences” (Moralde, 2019: 71), Blackness is still a “subordinated masculinity” (Park, 2015: 369). The league selectively broadcasts urban cool to attract mainstream audiences while concurrently restricting Black male individuality to placate Whites (Dunne, 2017).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making pastel pop on dark skin: How fashion stylists dress Black NBA players

Spearman

2019

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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The National Basketball Association is as popular as ever. A league dominated by Black players is in the midst of a fashion renaissance. The purpose of this paper is to explore how fashion stylists dress Black National Basketball Association players. Using a semi-structured interview protocol, the author interviewed 18 fashion stylists to investigate how they service Black National Basketball Association clients. After reviewing the transcripts and going through three rounds of coding, three themes were identified: The Black Body Is Different, It Should Be This Way, and Dress For Yourself And Dress For Others. Using Bourdieu’s cultural intermediary as a conceptual framework, I demonstrate how fashion stylists link the Black National Basketball Association player with high fashion, making National Basketball Association style more a reflection of middle-class ideology than individual clients.

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#WeAreTrayvonMartin: the racially packaged NBA commodity and the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin

Cited by 6 publications

References 39 publications

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

The Heritage Strikes Back: Athlete Activism, Black Lives Matter, and the Iconic Fifth Wave of Activism in the (W)NBA Bubble

Making pastel pop on dark skin: How fashion stylists dress Black NBA players

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