IMPORTANCE OF
BLACK ATHLETES



ON HBO AND IN BOOK STORES

Well one athlete made  the Cut

to appear on the cover of

" The Black List" the

NEW HBO series

book version

Even better Serena  Williams is first among "equals." Among 12 photos of prominent African  Americans pictured on the cover Serena is placed #1. Obviously that was  someone's editorial decision. No reason to think it happened randomly.

The other Black athlete  included in this highly touted HBO series beginning this week and the  accompanying book is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. TWO athletes out of 23  profiles included in "The Black List" as it is bring currently aired.  This is Volume One.

The HBO film and the  book are the work of

veteran film critic Elvis Mitchell

here is how he describes  it

" One of the purposes of  this Black List is to track the black experience in America, and by  doing so, to exhibit the wealth of variety in it. What's evident from  the speakers on the Black List is how that experience defies  definition. Vernon Jordan puts it as simply as saying that  African-American thought is not monolithic. Women's rights crusader Faye Wattleton voices the idea that integration has caused problems as  well as solved them; the areas that once housed every layer of the  African-American social strata, from professionals to laborers, clergy  to philosophers, offered illustrations of virtue to all within hailing  distance; once those restrictions that kept blacks together were  removed, a whole class of people was left behind without models next  door to follow through the corridors of attainment. The necessity of  having examples literally within reach is not lost on her."

" For those pursuing  art, avoiding the simplistic classifications of blackness is a  full-time occupation itself; dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones  discusses the limitations of the cliché of black rage, and the dangers  of not acknowledging his blackness first and foremost -- which for him  was an aesthetic self-abnegation but which his detractors saw as  renunciation and selling out. Dealing with blackness for others is a  call to arms; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks embraces what might be called the nontraditional behavior of black  audiences by providing context for it and looking to incorporate these  responses into her work. "

Our focus is the place  of African American athletes in the process. Specifically 2 athletes  among 23 African Americans featured. Looking at the list of those  interviewed it is hard to argue any of these women and men should have  been bumped in favor of more athletes. Some notable points made by  Abdul-Jabbar are that he was a journalism major and had written several  books. As for Serena she laments that she is always asked fluff  questions by the Sports media rather than serious questions about her Tennis strategy. Give the Box an opportunity Serena !

The real point of this  series and these two athletes is that the thoughtful interview process  employed uncovers layers of surprise about well known African Americans  we never see or hear in the often stereotyped way they are presented  their well known fame repeated again and again without the media and  others ever probing more deeply.

Hopefully in this era of  Barack Obama

there will be many more  volumes of

The Black List to come  and many

more thoughtful  fascinating

lives of African American

athletes deeply explored

with the interview used

as well as it is here

in The Black List

SERENA WILLIAMS FEATURED