As many industries are speaking up about being on the side of Black Live Matter, it has become clear that conversations still need to be had. Most are speaking out for Black Lives Matter, some are starting to take a look at how they interact with their patrons and customers, and some have started conversation and talks with their staff and employees. All of this being a long overdue conversation that started in May after George Floyd’s death, who was killed by police officers for having a counterfeit bill in Minneapolis. Also coming to light was the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto, whose mother had called the police to take Paquet to CAMH and instead her daughter fell from her 24th floor apartment. As we write this information blog, Breonna Taylor, a nurse in Louisville who was shot in her own home when police raided the wrong home with a no-knock warrant, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet’s cases seem to be on hold and no new information is being released about status of the case or if charges are being laid.
Earlier in June, CrossFit founder was forced to resign after athletes, gyms, and companies dropped the brand due to his remarks about the Black Lives Matter protests and requests for making a statement. Further controversy surrounded CrossFit as the replacement, Dave Castro, sent out an email promising change, recognizing the companies past faults, and hope. However, it seems like empty words as many have expressed concern that no other information on steps to put these words into fruition have been made public. The community is also concerned with the choice of Castro as the new CEO, as he has ignored and laughed at questions regarding ethnic diversity in the sport last year, which some had supported. This is just one of many examples of individual companies being called out for racist behaviour, but that does not address the systemtic issues within the fitness and sport industries and the health care system.
Health Care System
The Canadian Health Care system has been one of oppression and racism towards Black and Indigenous lives, consciously and unconsciously. In a single year, millions of Canadians will visit a clinic or hospital but not everyone is treated equally. Even health professionals will tell you about it or that they have witnessed it. Take a scenario like this:
You’ve been in extreme pain for the past four days to the point that you are unable to go to work, attend classes, and your struggling to get out of bed and use the washroom. Unable to take it anymore, you ask a friend or family member to take you to a hospital, hoping to find an answer to this pain. You wait to get triaged and seen by a doctor or nurse for 4 hours, still in pain and trying to explain to the doctor the last four days. You haven’t changed your diet or your exercise routine, maybe you’ve already had your appendix removed a few years prior and this is different than the appendicitis pain you had felt then. You hope that they may run some tests, possibly admit you to stay overnight, but that doesn’t happen. The doctor decides that you are faking it and trying to get drugs because you are Black or Indigenous.
Expecting mothers experience a difference in care as well. Stories have emerged (even from famous Black mothers like Beyoncé and Serena Williams) that doctors miss signs of preventable complications in Black mothers more than white mothers. Similarly, childbirth is killing three-four times more Black mothers and they are more likely to be denied epidural when requested to help with the labor pains.
This stems from multiple bias’, one being that there was once a widely accepted notion that
People of Colour, especially Black individuals, experience less pain and it is still believed by some white medical students and residents to this day. This original falsity came during the 19-century when slavery was still prevalent in North America, that ‘Black people’s skin is thicker…nerve endings less sensitive…and blood coagulates more quickly’. These statements were used to rationalize the brutality used against slaves, simply using the “they can take it” response. What is disturbing is that a 2016 study in the US found that 50% of a study group of 222 white potential nurses and doctors found that they still believed these ideas.
The next bias is the idea of higher risk of chronic health conditions. It is taught in university health programs all over Canada that Black and Indigenous people have higher risks of chronic diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and heart disease. And that is commonly where the conversation ends, there is no further explanation on why, it is just accepted as a fact. But, if one took the time to look into it more, it is easy to find possible reasons. It has been well documented that Black and Indigenous people have less easy access to quality health care, generally live in a lower socio-economic status (SES) area, and visit a physician or mental health professional less. The last factor is most likely done because they find they are not treated with respect and feel they are feared by others in a health care setting. We don’t need to look far to see an example of a community that displays these truths.
Jane & Finch, a 10-15 minute walk from York University, is a well-known area in North York for being a largely Black and Asian area. The most recent population data shows that 29% identify as Black, 9.6 % Jamaican, 11.9% Southeast Asian, 10.6% Vietnamese, 7.2% Italian, and 19% White. This area is also known in the health care industry as an area with a ‘diabetes crisis’, where diabetes diagnosis is double that of the provincial average. However, when you compare Jane and Finch to the rest of the GTA, something important comes up. The people living in Jane & Finch corridor make 37-60% of the average income reported in the GTA. SES is a public health and racial issue, which has become more transparent in recent months with the disproportional cases of COVID-19 being in lower SES neighbourhoods in the GTA.
Fitness Industry
One doesn’t need to go far to see racism within the fitness industry, even without speaking of company racism and extending into the little representation of the LGBTQ+ community. All you need to do is to Google ‘Fitness Magazine Cover’ and you see it. There is little to no diversity in the covers that show up. Most of the people on the covers, if you are not going to look for yourself, are already thin or white or male. Nothing in the titles tell of a transgender/queer/non-binary persons struggle and accomplishments in fitness. It makes it appear that Black womxn and the LGBTQ+ community do not work out.
This issue comes up in different aspects of the fitness industry. The western yoga culture is the best example of this. Yoga has been saved for wealthy, thin white women or expecting mothers, where gym cultures have been known to shame men for participating or made misogynistic remarks as to why they participate. Yoga and wellness practices are meant to be for all who are looking for ways to connect with themselves and the universe in a way that makes them feel empowered, which is elegantly said by Jessamyn Stanley.
“The whole purpose is to connect to your divinity. I am celestial. I am something so much bigger.”
However, racism and oppression is deep rooted in the fitness community, as companies receive backlash for attempting to represent all bodies. Last year, Nike had started adding plus-sized mannequins into their stores and some called them out immediately for ‘selling lies’, being ‘no friend to women’, and ‘cynical’. This is a problem because there is healthy at all weights, which we spoke about in our What Does It Mean To Be “Fat but Fit”? The Fit-Fat Paradox. There seems to be a conception that people who do not look like the ideal can’t run 10ks or marathons. And for those who are trying to change their body shape for their own reasons, are they going to wear jeans to the gym? No. Period. Real people are going to wear fitness clothing and wear it when they want.
The last thing to chat about is the ‘outdoor fitness’ industry, especially the hiking and camping world. Currently and historically, hiking and camping has been a majorly white pastime, originally started so people can experience the ‘rustic lifestyle’ of the Ingenious people that were pushed out of their homes to make National park lands. For People of Colour who want to start hiking, racism is rampant on trails. People assume they are new comers to nature. More importantly, hikers and campers of colour may have a fear of the woods because of history or the culture of the area they are in. Historically, lynching happened in wooded areas and it was common when a Black person went into the woods, they didn’t come out. Similarly, stories have come out about Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts for the Black community being apprehensive of camping trips because the nearest camp group was steps away from known KKK (or similar anti-Black) groups. Racism continues to happen on trails, where people are ignored and felt unwelcomed by white people, whether it is a single person doing it or people in a group letting the behaviour continue without being checked. Hikers asking inappropriate questions of Black hikers, not allowing them to destress and enjoy their time in nature.
Sports Industry
Athlete activism has been around for decades. Examples of like Althea Gibson, the first Black athlete to join international tennis, to big stage protests like when Tommie Smith and John Carlos protested on the podium during the 1968 Olympics. More recent examples like Colin Kapernick, the Minnesota Lynx players, Feyisa Lilesa, and many more show that there is something going on to require athlete activism. After all, it was not until the late 1880’s that rules which barred black athletes from playing professional baseball were taken out.
Sports teams have been called out for racist and inappropriate team names and logos, but athletes and fans continue to scream racial slurs at athletes. Black athletes are more likely to be drug tested than white athletes. However, there are still sports that see an incredible disproportion of majorly white athletes, coaches, managers, commissioners, and team owners. Similarly, as more Black womxn join the professional stage, more white men coach those teams than other Black womxn.
There are many issues as to why racism continues in the sports industry but we will just talk about two. The first is the sport, specifically their athletes. Athletes are the faces of their sport and are what get future stars interested. And that is where the problem starts. Let’s take the NHL and compare it to the NBA. In 2018, the NBA was named to most diverse sport in the national circuit, almost 81% of their players being a person of colour. Because of this, you are more likely to see young people of colour playing basketball in schools, within their communities, in after school programs, and try to excel in that sport. It is important to note that the equipment required for basketball is incredibly affordable, with shoes ranging from $20 to $200+ depending on the brand and registration fees around $275.
On the opposite end, the NHL has been considered a white man’s sport, where the first Black player to join the league in Boston was in 1958. Considering the league officially started in 1917, that is awfully recent. It took almost 20 years for the next two Black players to be added to the sport, both in Washington. Slowly, every few years, a Black athlete would join the league but would rarely become household names until more recently. There are only two Black players in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Grant Scott Fuhr and Jarome Iginla.
To compare with the NBA, in 2018 the NHL had a total of 31 players identify as Black out of over 24,000. Why is that? You can argue the scouts and teams are racist, that they are purposely avoiding drafting people of colour onto their teams. Which may be true. But, there is also something bigger. Let’s look at the cost to join a house league team for the first time:
Registration: $1200 (includes ice time and referee fees)
Travel: $900+ (depends on number of tournaments joined and distance of travel for away games)
Equipment: $1000+ if you are buying new and high profile brands, considering the stick alone can cost $400 and skates cost $900. (Also depends on if you are a goalie or not)
Maintenance Items: Bags ($250), Stick Tape (one roll costs $5), Mouth guards ($40), Equipment cleaning if you can’t do it yourself (minimum $500)….
I think you are starting to see what I mean. This doesn’t even include the special skills camps, other essential maintenance, and rep fees. As mentioned earlier, people of colour tend to live to lower SES neighbourhoods, so hockey is almost immediately out of the cards for kids to play. It’s simply too expensive, which is an issue. Going along with the costs, the sport is hypercompetitive and already dissuades participation at an early age.
The second aspect are the fans and commentators of the game. Fans seem to think they are immune to repercussions of hateful and racist speech when they yell at athletes and fellow fans. Val James, a black ice hockey player with an enforcer role in the 80’s, recalls having bananas thrown at him while on the ice and a monkey doll hung over the penalty box with a noose during his years of play. After he retired from an injury, he couldn’t watch the game anymore. Fans reinforce stereotypes, that Black people can’t enjoy hockey as they yell snide comments and harass them during games. Retired outfielder Torii Hunter spoke out recently about being called the N-word by ‘little kids’ while at Fenway Park, parents not stepping in. Hunter even commented that it happens to Black employees at the park. The University of Kentucky had to apologize and ban a fan from all future Wildcat events after she had shouted racial slurs to a fan from the University of Tennessee during one of their basketball games back in March. Sports teams need to hold fans accountable for their actions at any event related to the team and make it obvious it will not be tolerated. For commentators, their broadcasting stations need to keep them in line. The 49ers had done that last year with their radio broadcaster. A TV station fired a commentator after he added a racial slur to a metaphor when describing Inter Milan striker, Romelu Lukaku. These are two example of discipline done without hesitation, however, that is not always the case. No reminders needed of the Don Cherry and Ron MacLean incident last November and Cherry’s history of statements.
Continue Talking
All experiences in sport, fitness, and health are different and just because your experience is positive does not mean another’s has not been. Systemtic racism is very much prevalent and needs to be addressed by the industries, companies, and teams involved. We can do our part as consumers by encouraging your favourite brands to have representative ads. Report doctors who are not providing you optimal care or are not providing you with all options for treatment. This is just the tip of the iceberg of issues in these settings and more information and solutions are needed to make Black Lives Matter.
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