In today's world, American Football has become one of the most popular sports. The shine of the touchdown celebration or a field goal begins to wear off and reality sets in. The racial disparities and the ethics of injury prevention, especially concussions. This topic has gained the attentions in recent studies by Caitlin Hudacs and et. These studies are important because they showcase how systemic racism, harm reduction strategies and the National Football League (NFL) are all connected.
The study in Frontiers in Neurology entitled, Dynamic cognitive inhibition within the context of frustration: Increasing racial representation of adolescent athletes identified through mobile community neurological EEG strategies, addresses the widespread suffering experienced by black adolescent athletes. In this the researchers use mobile EEG techniques during their pre and post season testing of high school football players in order to assess neural responses to frustrating task. They observed in their study that frustration influenced cognitive inhibition. It also illustrates systemic obstacles to equal use of black athletes for research and involvement in details of sports healthcare. This highlighted inherent biases in the diagnosis and management of concussions, with black athletes being allowed to return to play sooner and without restriction before fully recovering. This was an overview using community engaged research methods that made recommendations for improving diversity of neuroscience research.
This links with the issues of NFL as stated by Peter Beson writing in Big Football: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Culture and Color of Injury in America's most Popular Sport. Some of the NFL and its corporate social responsibility focuses on reducing concussion-related injuries, but seldom acknowledges deeper systemic issues, Benson says. In a move reminiscent of Big Tobacco, the NFL is shown to be using helmet technology approaches where it appears to improve player safety, but really it just supports status quo rather than truly dealing with core problems. He believes these reforms are better about saving face and protecting financial interests than they are in actually reversing the tide.
In each, football is saved on injury-slavery, and the potential for black bodies. It is an environment where in the NFL, players are very literally getting greenlit to suit up under dangerous circumstances. This not only results in the violent nature of sports, but also a racialized system that disproportionately affects black students athletes. Benson explains how football takes advantage of the working class, specifically how black bodies are the engine that runs the NFL system. So could it be that a doctor racing from one patient to another might assume an entire travel team of non-white football players will have the same warning system deficits an all-black NFL team exhibits?
References
Benson, Peter. “Big Football: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Culture and Color of Injury in America’s Most Popular Sport.” Journal of Sport and Social Issues, vol. 41, no. 4, 26 May 2017, pp. 307–334, https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723517707699.
Hudac, Caitlin M, et al. “Dynamic Cognitive Inhibition in the Context of Frustration: Increasing Racial Representation of Adolescent Athletes Using Mobile Community-Engaged EEG Methods.” Frontiers in Neurology, vol. 13, 21 Dec. 2022, https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2022.918075. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
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