竞技体育与种族主义

林三土
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IPFS
【注:本文是2016年8月15日电子邮件发送的“选·美”会员通讯,此前未在网络公开发表。】

奥运会、竞技体育、种族主义

(2016年8月15日通讯)

本届奥运会上,Simone Manuel获得100米自由泳金牌,成为美国历史上第一位获得奥运游泳冠军的黑人女性。这一事件让舆论重新关注起体育运动中存在的种族问题。

竞技体育一向是种族主义思维的重灾区。记得我小时候,经常在书报上看到类似于「黑种人爆发力强,适合田径和篮球;黄种人身体灵巧,适合乒乓球、羽毛球和体操;白种人骨骼密度小(或者身体重心低),适合游泳」之类的论调——相信不少读者也听过这些说法。至少在2004年雅典奥运会时,人民日报还在登载基于种族的体育评论

At the midway point of the Athens Games, with China in a surprisingly tight competition with the United States for the lead in gold medals, the party's chief newspaper, People's Daily, cautioned that track and field events were about to begin.
While Chinese are ''suited'' to sports like Ping-Pong, badminton and gymnastics that require agility and technique, the newspaper noted, purely athletic events are different. Chinese had ''congenital shortcomings'' and ''genetic differences'' that created disadvantages against black and white athletes.

在美国,体育方面的种族成见同样存在。二十世纪以前,美国主流社会认为黑人只能做粗重的体力活,但是不适合搞更「高级」的竞技体育;三十年代Jesse Owens在田径中大放异彩后,主流社会的态度变成「黑人确实爆发力强没错,但是毅力不足(great speed but little stamina)」或者「黑人单打独斗可以,但是团队精神不行」,以此来阻止黑人运动员进军篮球等职业领域;再后来又流行起「黑人天生体力好,(但是/所以)天生智力差」的观念,用黑人运动员在体育上的成功来为教育和职场上的歧视辩护。

诚然,遗传因素对体育能力是有极其重大影响的,比如由ACTN3基因表达的α-辅肌动蛋白3,被广泛认为是人体爆发力的基础,因此缺失ACTN3基因的人基本无法通过训练提高爆发力。不过尽管ACTN3缺失的比例在不同族群中有差异,但一般而言,体育能力遗传因素的族内差异远远大于族间差异,换句话说,一般而言种族差异本身并不会对竞技体育成绩造成多大影响,更多影响来自社会经济文化等方面

According to Professor Rob Ruck, a sports historian at the University of Pittsburgh who has written extensively about why certain sports flourish in certain communities and not others, there are three factors that dictate which “sport takes on significance within a community of people.” First, “A set of environmental and class, or socioeconomic factors. Second, when the sport provides certain tangible and material rewards, benefits and opportunities. The third is when a particular sport has acquired a deeply rooted historic meaning to people.”

比如大象公会曾有一篇文章讲述体育与阶层的关系。除阶层外,不恰当的社会经济政策所导致的种族歧视后果也会间接体现在体育上。比如美国七十年代后期开始的「大规模监禁」现象,便通过「父子互动」的棒球文化,造成了黑人棒球运动员比例的下降

As an example, Ruck pointed to the declining number of black professional baseball players. “In the 70’s African-Americans comprised over a quarter of all major leaguers, today it’s under 10%.” Citing his three factor theory, Ruck explained that baseball has traditionally been a sport that a male father figure has passed down to his son and the increase in fatherless black households has meant that a boy growing up playing catch with his father in these communities is less likely.

在美国,游泳是受种族歧视直接影响最重的体育领域之一(其它像冰球等项目,虽然也几乎是「纯白人」的游戏,但这种排斥有一部分是社会经济阶层差异导致的,只是在美国,经济差异恰好与种族存在高度相关性)。历史学家Jeff Wiltse在《Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America》一书中,详细追溯了美国社会如何将黑人排斥在泳池之外。简单地说,在种族隔离时代,黑人不被允许进入公共泳池;随着民权运动后种族隔离被禁止,白人社区纷纷修建乡村俱乐部泳池、私人后院泳池等,而白人控制的地方政府则不再花钱维护公共泳池,放任其水质败坏无法使用。《大西洋月刊》曾以德克萨斯McKinney市为例展现这一变迁过程

这些变化的结果,是黑人社区长大的孩子基本无缘学习游泳,自然更难以在竞技游泳上取得成就——比如2010年的调查显示,美国白人小孩只有40%不会游泳,而黑人小孩与拉丁裔小孩分别有70%和60%不会游泳。

当然,白人社区通过放弃公共设施、改走私有化路线,来规避种族融合,并不仅仅发生在游泳领域。希拉里在上个月党代会的发言中,提到自己年轻时卧底南方一些坚持种族隔离的公立学校调查取证,帮助黑人家长打官司的经历。这个经历其实她以前并没有怎么提起过,甚至连她的长期支持者们都没听说过,直到去年年底《纽约时报》的一篇报道挖出这段往事后,才为人所知。为什么希拉里过去对这段「光荣往事」三缄其口?一个可能的原因是,这段经历虽然在战术上获得了短暂的成功,但在战略上全是完全的失败,以至于参与其中的民权运动者对此充满挫败感,不愿揭开伤口。因为虽然公立学校被迫实行种族融合,但很快南方白人社区就改变了策略,干脆不去公立学校,改为兴建远离市区、只有白人家庭能够承担得起的私立学校,同时放任那些公立学校因为缺乏财政支援而陷入破败:

The proliferation of private schools in the South “was a gigantic event, and it blew the minds of civil rights folks and took the wind out of their sails,” said Douglas A. Blackmon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center who is working on a documentary about the effects of segregation academies.
“But in a minute, it was over,” he said of the effort to combat such schools. “And the well-intentioned work Hillary described was no match for the absolute insistence of millions of Southern whites that their kids never go to school with black kids.”

后民权运动时代的种族主义迄今仍在深刻地影响着美国社会。据芝加哥大学今年七月份的调查显示(第11页),在美国18-30岁的人群中,黑人、亚裔、拉丁裔都认为当今美国社会最严重的问题是种族主义,只有白人所关心问题的前三项(分别是恐怖主义、教育、国债)不包括种族主义。

话说回来,美国(以及其它国家)的种族状况比起几十年前肯定是有了极大进步的。比如1968年奥运会上,美国黑人运动员Tommie Smith和John Carlos分别获得200米赛跑的金、铜牌。在颁奖仪式上,Smith和Carlos光脚、一手戴黑色手套、握拳抬臂,向几个月前遇刺身亡的马丁路德金、以及主张走激进反抗路线的黑豹党致敬。Smith和Carlos因此被美国奥运代表团禁赛,从奥运村驱逐回国,并在此后不断收到死亡威胁。

而获得银牌的澳大利亚白人运动员Peter Norman,事先知道了Smith和Carlos的计划。Norman虽然没有在领奖台上做出同样的动作,但他戴上了Olympic Project for Human Rights的胸章,以表示对Smith和Carlos争取种族平权的支持。然而澳大利亚当时同样是一个种族隔离的国家,Norman的举动让他付出了比Smith和Carlos更为沉重的代价:他被国家队除名,创造的全国短跑记录从此无人提起;患上抑郁症,艰难谋生并借酒消愁,直到2006年突发心脏病去世;悉尼奥组委曾经邀请他加入,前提是发表声明谴责Smith和Carlos当年的举动,但被Norman拒绝;一直到2012年,在美国媒体的舆论压力下,澳大利亚议会才通过动议,对已经去世的Norman平反道歉

This House “recognises the extraordinary athletic achievements of the late Peter Norman, who won the silver medal in the 200 meters sprint running event at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, in a time of 20.06 seconds, which still stands as the Australian record”.
“Acknowledges the bravery of Peter Norman in donning an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge on the podium, in solidarity with African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who gave the ‘black power’ salute”.
“Apologises to Peter Norman for the wrong done by Australia in failing to send him to the 1972 Munich Olympics, despite repeatedly qualifying; and belatedly recognises the powerful role that Peter Norman played in furthering racial equality”.

延伸阅读:

司法种族主义、警察暴力与抗议中的暴力

灯塔主义与中国自由派知识分子的「川化」

种族隔离阴霾下的罗斯福新政:被挟持的宪政转型及其后果

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