Sports stars are held up as role models – until they want to stand up to racism

What is it to be a role model? What does it mean when our children have posters of their sporting idols on their bedroom walls and, along with many adults, follow them on Instagram and Twitter?

It seems clear when these same athletes misstep or misbehave that we expect them to be wholesome and holistic role models. Yet, when they act in support of issues of societal importance such as child hunger or racism – as athletes in the US from basketball, baseball, football and other sports have done in recent days – social media and political pundits rush to admonish these athletes for stepping out of their lane. In the words of one particularly poisonous news anchor, NBA players should “shut up and dribble”.

I am not going to suggest to you that every athlete has incisive political insight or a monopoly on good ideas, but it doesn’t take a PhD to have an ethical backbone; to know when you see injustice and to realise that you are strategically placed and uniquely privileged to be able to speak out on behalf of those who can not.

Those who still misunderstand racism chide “millionaire athletes” for cancelling playoff games, boycotting tournaments and speaking out on behalf of the wider Black community, as if they believe these athletes’ wealth inoculates them from racism. It does not. Not just because some of them have come from poverty to wealth through their skill, effort and talent, but because no matter their social status, the Blackness of their skin – my skin – means that to some we will always be less than a man … less than human. No amount of wealth can inure a Black person from the trauma of seeing someone murdered, in broad daylight in front of their children or at night while they sleep, just for looking like you.

I look at the actions of athletes from the NBA and beyond, some of whom went on strike ahead of games on Wednesday in protest at the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, as the most civil of disobediences. It is exactly the kind of proactivity and principle we should hope to see from athletes who embrace the concept of being a role model. We may notice women and men in sport first for their skills on court, field or track, but our connection builds as we learn about them as people: we sometimes cross our fingers and hope that we won’t be disappointed. Here we see a group of athletes from across sport showing that despite some of them being wrapped in a “bubble” of sorts (as the entire NBA and WNBA are now sequestered in Disney World in Florida for the remainder of the basketball season as a protective measure against Covid-19) they still remain connected to a purpose higher than sporting excellence. They still realise that they have a unique ability to garner media attention, inspire conversations in people who may not be politically engaged and shine a light on miscarriages of justice.

We may laugh along as athletes and former athletes use their influence to sell us everything from crisps to shoes that make you fly and drinks that do the same. Surely, it’s churlish of us to think that this use of influence for money is sanctionable, but supporting issues of human dignity is somehow out of bounds?

For those who think athletics and politics shouldn’t mix, I need to tell you that you may not have been paying attention. Sports has been political since Pheidippides is said to have run from a battlefield near the town of Marathon to Athens in 490BC to announce the Athenian victory. Sport is mired in politics: whether it’s the presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens, trying to convince the IOC to grant them the Olympic Games, or the choices of which athletes and sports get state funding. You know what else is mired in politics – human rights and the principles of a civil society.

To tell sports stars not to be people of good conscience who use their power to draw attention to the plight of those who have none is an act of violence against the principles of being a role model. To lament athletes “getting involved in politics” is an empty narrative that German pastor Martin Niemöller’s confessional words, “First they came …”, warned us about last century.

As you consider the “proper” role of athletes in challenging the ills of society, please remember that there are children who were fed this summer in the UK who would otherwise have gone hungry because an athlete, Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, spoke out and forced the government to change its ways. It wasn’t a politician, or a scientist, educator or political commentator – it was an athlete who made this happen.

I, for one, am grateful that people in sport are embracing their power, and are attempting to force change from politicians who otherwise appear deaf to the petitions of the disenfranchised.

• John Amaechi OBE is a psychologist, CEO of APS, author and retired NBA basketball player