Читать книгу No Win Race. A Story of Belonging, Britishness and Sport онлайн

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It had often been the case that white people assumed that the colour of my skin and my height ensured athletic excellence. Upon first meeting me, most would ask, ‘Do you play basketball?’ ‘No,’ I’d reply, never knowing what else to say. I would later come to realise that, for well-meaning white folks, in bowing to a more favourable stereotype (black people being good at sport) they were addressing their own discomfort. For them, a conversation starter and some solace. For me, a conversation closer and anxiety.

Sport offered positive images of black folks at a time when we were bombarded with negative images in the media. Back in the seventies and early eighties, the few shows that featured black actors like Mixed Blessings, Rising Damp and Love Thy Neighbour always emphasised the difference between Caribbean or African culture and the English. They forever depicted us as aliens – sources of fundamental difference, conflict and unrest. The gags were often cheap, cruel and exploitative. Sport, to some degree, balanced out these negative images.