This stereotypical image has stood in relevant contrast to established stereotypical images of black male athletes, who are able and (all too) willing to destroy backboards with their slam dunks.
An article written by Patrick B. Miller (Department of history Northeastern Illinois University) “The Anatomy of Scientific Racism: Racialist Responses to Black Athletic Achievement” references the constant battle of social and biological construct within athletics. Miller states that:
The “sports version” of human diversity, still placing population groups up and down a vertical axis of accomplishment, suggests another significant topic. Often without discussion of the economic and educational practices that most starkly mark “racial” distinctions in America, without examination of the concepts of whiteness and blackness in cultural terms, and without recognition of mixed heritage, most racialist formulations have clearly had as their objective the demonstration of African American inferiority, for example, on intelligence tests. But it has also been in response to black achievement that certain judgments about “culture” or ideologies of success have been manipulated.
Yes, it may be true that majority of professional basketball players currently in the NBA are African-American (by society standards), as well as majority of the top college basketball players; however, this does not mean that every man (or woman) of color are able to dribble, shoot, or dunk better than their competitors of other races.
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