Black History Month

Black History Month:
February was black history month. There are 300,000 registered swimmers with USS. Fewer than 2% are black. The Race Club is about racing in the pool but recently the other type of race is being addressed, with the release of the movie PRIDE, the news surrounding Cullen Jones and United States Swimming recently bringing in diversity specialists and creating outreach programs. Here is a link to an inspiring article about Brielle White, an African American swimmer that is training for the 2008 Games: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blackhistory2007/news/story?id=2759304
Brielle and I will be going to the Pan American Games this summer, and I look forward to getting to know her.

PRIDE:
I was a little uncomfortable when I watched the movie PRIDE. The white swimmers were racist pricks, all of them. There wasn't one compassionate white swimmer, or coach. There is a problem that our sport faces in the imbalance and lack of diversity. The sport is trying to address that now, after far too long. But is that the fault of the swimmers? I hope not. Is swimming a racist sport? And if I am a swimmer, am I a racist?
Growing up I never saw racism. I wasn't a racist and no one I knew was a racist so it was easy for me to think that racism didn't exist, at least in this country. In the world I knew, it didn't exist. I thought that it was a thing of the past, something horrible that happened at least a generation ago. When I went out of state to college is when I saw racism for the first time. I was at a party hosted by the football team. At one point all of the white football players started fighting the black football players. These were supposed to be teammates! Around that same time, in the same state, a black man was tied to a white man's pickup truck and dragged to death for no other reason than he was black. It opened my eyes. Racism does exist and it's a horrible thing. Maybe it's less prevalent than it was a generation ago, but it does exist. I am a white swimmer and I am not a racist. I did get one hate mail letter, after I accused Marion Jones of using illegal performance enhancing drugs, accusing me of being a racist fool. The guy misspelled racist in the letter. It's the only time I have ever been accused of being a racist but I felt a little defensive watching PRIDE.

Anthony Ervin's Thread On The Race Club Message Board:

GHJ: I just attended a black history month swim meet in Washington DC. What a great event. I had a great time. There were thousands of swimmers it seemed. I enjoyed meeting almost all of them. I have met a few people, Muhammad Ali being one of them, that perpetuate the stereotype that black people can't swim. John Salley from the Best Damn Sports Show asks me every time I meet him, three times so far, "Why can't black people swim?"

He's joking, I think?

Every time I point out examples like Anthony Neste, Maritza Correia and my friends and team mates Anthony Ervin and Sabir Muhammad (Olympic Gold medalists and Record Holders). There is a pretty long list, and rapidly growing too, of successful African American All American swimmers from the college circuit and National Team, Michael Norment and Byron Davis among them. And of course now there is Cullen Jones. It's interesting to point out the difference in response to the race issue between Anthony Ervin and Cullen and the subsequent response from the media and sponsors. After the 2000 Olympic Trials Anthony and I sat in the press conference and Anthony was asked to address race, not the swimming one but the color of skin one. His response was similar to what he has just posted here. It was a thoughtful way of saying that if we are ever truly going to get around the issue of ethnicity, we should look to what's inside, who that person is, etc. Anthony identified himself as a swimmer, the same as everyone else in the pool. Anthony was always a reluctant hero. Anthony has a valid, well thought out point that it's what is on the inside that counts. It wasn't what the folks in the media room wanted to hear. You could see the disappointment in the answers that they were given to their baited questions. Cullen on the other hand embraced the label that the media wanted and look at what has happened. United States Swimming has created a diversity program. Nike gave him $2 million. There is a LOT of press. In no way do I want to sound like the only reason Cullen is making that kind of money is because he is black. He IS a PHENOMINALLY talented swimmer that has done great things, winning Nationals and Pan Pacs. And he will continue to do great things I am sure. Anthony Ervin won gold and silver in the Olympics, won the World Championships, and every other meet and he was making about $30,000 a year doing this. I am one that believes that Cullen is on his way to doing as well. This quote is taken from www.blackathlete.net "Here's a First for Nike (,) paying a BLACK Swimmer a $2Million endorsement fee. No it's not a Fantasy." I applaud Nike for 1) seeing the potential in Cullen as a swimmer 2) assisting in the growth of the sport by assisting a black role model and 3) addressing the lack of diversity that is a black cloud (no pun intended) hanging over the sport. If Cullen's Nike contract is indeed worth $2million, by the time that contract expires he will most likely make more than what Matt Biondi, Alex Popov, and I (26 Olympic medals combined) made from swimming combined. It's easy for someone to think that if one can grow sales by being black, it's a tremendous advantage. Nike is not paying any white athlete as much, I'm pretty sure. All of this says something about the media and corporate mentality rather than ethnic ability. So, is one response better than the other? I don't think so, obviously one is just more valuable. There definitely isn't a right and wrong answer. Personally, I think that if Anthony had played the game, in addition to garnering the results he did he would have made maybe not $2 million but a lot more than what he did. Anthony, I am wondering how you feel about this issue. Am I way out of line here? No one is saying that Cullen is the first great African American swimmer but by wearing the label proudly he seems to be coming across opportunities that never presented themselves to you. This is such a sensitive subject. I really hope that I am not offending anyone by addressing it.

Anthony Ervin: "I'm not sure if I want to get into the topic of media or corporate mentality, but I can get into my own personal motivation and therein the source for my decision making. My goal for my teenage years was to swim in the Olympics. I never had plans of being a professional swimmer and making millions of dollars. Nor was my goal to be a patron to a piece of my ethnic background (the media didn't seem to care too much about my Native American side, but oh so ironic isn't it?) Of course, all of this was thrust on me and I decided not to "play the game," as you put it. I enjoyed swimming to win, and at the tender age of 19 swimming for money seemed both like gambling and work (both unappetizing), and swimming as an ethnic symbol seemed hypocritical since my family had spent generations trying to dissolve such ethnic divides. So I decided to shrug off the responsibilities of professionalism and to be honest with how I felt about the race card. And what do I have to show for my choices? Some integrity, I'd like to think."

Trojan: "The other issue - and I don't think it's really wrong to say - is that while I had seen Anthony swim quite often, I had to read about his African American heritage. I really have no idea if that makes a difference for (marketing people) and it shouldn't - but who knows."

GHJ: Maybe you have a point. Maybe Anthony, you don't look black enough. It's absolutely ridiculous when you stop to think about it but who ever said that marketing/PR folks stopped to think. It's not just about results anymore, you have to look a part, at least to get the big endorsements. You see it in music all the time, right? MTV won't air anyone who is over 25. American idol won't allow anyone over the age of 28 to audition. Why? Is it because after age 28 your voice and musical ability go to hell? No.

AgentMM: "I hate speaking for other people (re: Anthony) but I really admire his sense of self in this era of money hungry athletics... If he wanted to race, just for the sake of racing....what else can anyone want from him or for him?? It's this pure form of competitive athletics that is the only worthy thing left in this endorsement, corrupted, greedy, corporate world we live in...."

Nick Brunelli: "Now I sit here and see the choice that I myself have made along with many others and that's to stick with a dream of being #1 at that right moment. Even if I keep missing those paychecks month after month for a few more years, just to have a shot at an Olympic gold, I think it's worth it! This exact thought process is why athletes in swimming won't push for more money. Do we as top swimmers in the world deserve it? Yes I think so!!! But here's the bottom line, dreaming of a gold medal or just making it to the Olympics and striving for that, seems more rewarding to oneself than any amount of money you can think of. Everyone can become rich, but not everyone can be #1 in the world!"

GHJ: I think that we all admit that staying true to one's self is the right thing to do. NOBODY gets into swimming for the wrong reasons. Meaning that you don't spend that many hours and endure that much pain developing your swimming with the thought that you are doing it for fame and fortune. If you do 1) you won't be successful and 2) you are certifiably insane. There are no successful money hungry athletes in the sport of swimming. There is great reward in winning the Olympics, that is true. But say there are two swimmers. One wins the Olympics and receives $50,000 for doing that (it puts a value on the accomplishment) and another swimmer does something great, but less great in the pool but potentially has a platform to increase their own and a brand's visibility (and increase sales) and they receive $2,000,000 for it. If you look at the scales measuring the value of being the best in the world in swimming (the Olympics being the pinnacle of the sport) versus the value of POTENTIALLY (it is still yet to prove effective) growing exposure/business they aren't even close. In this case the platform is "perceived" because Anthony is also African American. The whole thing is confusing to me. As the topic of how we successfully market our sport is and should be a hot one among the swimming community we should be able to identify the logic behind such thinking.

What do you think?

Join the discussion on the Race Club messageboard.

The Bad Is Sometimes Not So Bad:

My grandmother always said, "Keep your chin up." It's easy to hyper focus on our own problems and they quickly become consuming. I got a haircut yesterday and had about 15 minutes to kill. So I started flipping through this picture book in a nearby bookstore. It was filled with pictures of the worst places in the world, discarded and forgotten humans, lost and abandoned souls dying in unlivable conditions. Pictures of war, disease, and famine. It was horrific, nightmarish. Looking at only one picture was enough to make anyone cry and vomit. I didn't buy the book. Ever since then I haven't been able to get the images out of my mind. I am going back to the bookstore to buy the book tomorrow. Anytime I think I'm having a bad day I'm going to flip to any one of those pages. Sometimes we are reminded that our problems no matter how bad they seem are, well, stupid and trivial compared to what others face.
A friend that I used to swim with is coaching now and one of his swimmers, a twelve year old, had a tumor the size of a football removed recently. The swimmer is going through a tough time, and chemotherapy. What do you say? Sitting down to write a supportive letter to someone I have never met before I had that realization again that I'm pretty lucky.
Last night I went to a fundraising event for paralysis research. It was an incredible event and a cause that I have gotten very involved with over the years. Diabetes research and spinal cord injury research have shared interest and hope in the stem cell research that is being done. Three days ago I was running stairs, a lot of them. I was so sore and in a lot of pain, hobbling around. How can I complain? There are folks in a wheelchair that would give anything to hobble for just one day. Unfortunately, terrible things happen. We can't stop these things from happening. Don't get down when you come across a setback. Do something that will make your worst problem seem trivial and stupid. You'll help others and feel better. And stop complaining.

The Letter:

-------,
Your coach ------- told me you were getting through some hard times right now so I thought I'd drop a note to let you know that you will get through it. How could I know? I'm not a doctor and I am not familiar with the condition you are in. ------ tells me it's pretty serious though with tumors and chemotherapy and stuff. So how do I know? You are a swimmer. It might sound ridiculous to someone that hasn't been a swimmer themselves, and they might misinterpret a statement like this thinking, "How does a good freestyle catch with high elbow help someone deal with sickness?" Well, it does and it doesn't. A good breaststroke pullout isn't going to miraculously cure you but being in great shape will help you get through that surgery and recovery. As a matter of fact I am guessing that some of those hard sets ------- has you do hurt almost as much as surgery. What about determination? I know that you've stood on the blocks and said to yourself, "I am going to do this. I AM going to do this." That's how things get done, impossible things. Swimmers have that vision and drive, that desire. Every doctor has a story of a patient that should have died. They don't have any explanation as to why this one patient survived when so many others died. What makes this one person survive? I think I know. It's the same thing that gets otherwise average people to the medal podium of the Olympic Games. It's desire and all of those good things you learn from swimming like determination, drive, focus, and some hard work. Focus on what you want to do when you get through this. When you are facing a potentially life threatening situation focus on the reason you have to live, what you love about life, what you are going to do when you get through this. It's really easy to get down, I know. If you haven't asked yourself I am sure others have wondered out loud, "How does something like this happen? Especially to a 12 year old?" The unfortunate reality is that these things do happen. Others have gotten through worse and you can get through this. You don't have any choice in having this happen to you but you have a choice in how to deal with it. And when you are a positive, determined, strong, athletic, driven individual (a swimmer) you can do anything. I look forward to meeting you one day. We'll go for a swim.
Nothing is going to stop you kid,
Gary Hall Jr.