“An educator and mentor of mine always uses this phrase and I believe it to be true, ‘everything in society is economically and politically motivated with socio-cultural implications,’” Cooper said. Even with playing the national anthems before certain games, people often times don’t view that as a political statement but it actually is.” “Often times people don’t question if there are militaristic associations with certain sports. Moses that sport is inherently political so whenever athletes or individuals connected to sport use it as a platform to champion causes that are important to them, I think it’s perfectly within their purview as long as it’s done in a respectful manner, such as a peaceful protest,” Cooper said. It's sometimes very difficult to untie.”īecause of his experience behind the scenes of the Olympics, Moses rejects the idea that athletes are the only ones injecting politics into sports and instead notes that the entire event is business driven. “There are major deals done between people at the high levels of sports making major commercial deals, representing companies or private organizations, and international sovereign countries. “The businesspeople that run the sports are completely political because of the nature of commercialization,” he said. Moses spoke of the desire to keep sports and politics separate at the time, which Moses now describes as “naive.” Moses was also one of the first athletes to be commercially viable at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California. In 1981, he was invited to join the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by former IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch, and was involved in the growth of track and field as a commercial sport. Moses then shared his personal story as a former track and field athlete who won gold medals for the 400 m event at the 19 Olympics. Cooper shared how these historic moments were a part of progressive racial change in Boston, breaking barriers, shifting attitudes, and providing a blueprint for future sports activists seeking to improve the plights of Black communities locally and internationally. ![]() ![]() The presentation highlighted the work of Boston bicycle racer Kittie Knox who became the first Black athlete to be accepted into the League of American Wheelman, and Mabray “Doc” Kountze, a sportswriter and Black historian who was the first Black journalist to be issued a press pass by the Boston Red Sox. ![]() Moses and Cooper also tackled commercialization and politics in sports alongside the rise of performance enhancing drugs at the Olympics. Cooper, who presented the rich history of resistance and activism in and through sport in Boston. Keith Motley Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration Joseph N. The event featured two-time Olympic gold medalist and track and field icon Dr. The Black Faculty, Staff, and Student Association (BFSSA) hosted “A History of Black Activism in Boston Sports” webinar last month, as part of the campus’s Black History Month activities.
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