Title: More Black Athletes in the Media
Author: Michael A. Banks, PHD
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1-4931-6937-5
Genre: Sports/History
Pages: 320
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent

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More Black Athletes in the Media is a timely and insightful look at the way African-Americans are treated in the media. Michael A. Banks has written an educational book that will enlighten readers about how sports and race often collide.

More Black Athletes in the Media examines how Black athletes have been presented in the media dating back to boxer Jack Johnson in the 1920’s. Johnson was an accomplished boxer who was dogged by racist depictions of him in the Jim Crow era. He also wrote eloquently about Black athletes in the 1930’s like boxer Joe Louis and Jesse Owens were vilified in the media worse than their White Nazi counterparts. Banks also covers the Civil Rights Movement when Muhammed Ali spoke out against racism and the Vietnam War. While he is praised as a hero now, during the 1960’s, Ali was seen as a traitor to the United States then for being unapologetically Black and Muslim.

Banks then writes about how athletes in the present are also seen as “not knowing their place” if their actions diverge from the expected path that White sportswriters expect. He details how basketball star LeBron James was criticized for the “The Decision,” his much-hyped TV special in 2010. In that special, he announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat as a free agent. Banks writes about how many White sportswriters saw his departure as a betrayal of traditional basketball instead of just James exercising control of his career.

Banks’ writing deftly points out the racial bias against African-American athletes by the many articles he cites throughout the text. Many articles with the racist language directed at Black athletes are re-printed to detail the discrimination that the athletes faced. The racist history of phrenology and the depiction of African-Americans as inferior in history also provides a background on how Black athletes are always pitted against White athletes in the media. The background also explains the implicit bias many White sportswriters and executives had against Black sports stars.

While the book has negative aspects of racism, there are moments of hope and perseverance for the Black athletes. Ali is shown as a confident Black man who ignores the negative stories written about him. Despite the criticism directed at Georgetown coach for having Black starters on his basketball team, he became a winning legendary coach.

More Black Athletes in the Media would be best for sports fans who want to know well-researched and complied details about the untold story how African-American athletes were unfairly depicted in the media. Fans of books such as Forty Million Slaves by William C. Holden will enjoy this book. Banks has written a book that will show the truth that Black athletes face away from the spotlight.