Just Hilly

The topic to be discussed in this essay is Black women in sports; more specifically how they navigate the challenges as both female athletes and black athletes. This will be an analysis of literature and statistics through primarily Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the feminist theory.  My first lens, critical race theory, formerly studied on college campuses, has seen a recent push to be applied to broader schools of thought and institutions. It evaluates the significant inconsistencies in the consideration of the place of “race” in legal circles impacts life chances, freedoms, and every day experiences in social structures (Lawrence & Hilton, 2022) With one of those social structures being sports, black athletes have had to navigate exclusion, abuse, unequal opportunities and protections. The beginnings of most black American participation in sports at a higher level began in historically black colleges and coloured leagues. Those athletes were some of the first to encounter po...

To walk into a room, a space, and find yourself being examined Every detail of your countenance being microscopically observed Studied, picked apart and concluded on- A black person disallowed from individuality & personhood. The laughing group of black people in a public space- the stares, The murmurs, the sighs- the disapproval of black joy How dare they make noise? How dare they be loud? The censorship of black hair, black attitude, black perspective, black ingenuity-  BLACK BODIES We can find ourselves policed everywhere for not following guidelines that were never truly handed to us on a personal level- a broad stroke of social rules to follow. We must remember that when we empower ourselves, as a race of people, we must not forget to grant each other personhood- a leave from this job we are tasked with in our day to day. See each other not through their eyes but our own- see the individual and FORCE others to see the individual as well. For we will never be free of this r...