The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism

I heard an interview on NPR from the author about this book and was immediately intrigued and ordered the book that day. This might be in my top 10 books I’ve read in a long time. Having grown up in the Michal Jordan/Tiger Woods generation this book taught me an immense amount of history and helped me understand our currently climate to a greater degree. This book spurred conversations I don’t think I would have been able to articulate prior to reading it. I can’t recommend this book enough!

I learned a lot about many events I’ve lived through and Mr.Bryant was successful in getting me to see the bigger picture and many of the behind the scenes social issues. It was depressing to learn how little progress we’ve made as a society and encouraging to realize that there are movements afoot.

I just finished “The Heritage” a new book by Howard Bryant which covers the intersection of sports, race, and politics in America over the past several generations. Figures like Jackie Robinson, Paul Robeson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos , Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Curt Flood represent the Heritage for the Black Athletes, and the story follows how the sports owners dealt with their loathe towards activism and recounts the silence during the 80’s-90’s-00’s. How 9-11 enabled stealth defense spending to be used to fund patriotic activities at all major sporting events then on through today’s controversial on field protests. The catalog of police events relating to Colin Kaepernick’s protest are uncomfortable to read but this book can be, in my opinion, an important source of understanding for segments of america that are disturbed by on field protests.

This was a difficult book to read all the way through for me because the subject of racism in the United States is so hurtful. But Bryant did a masterful job of looking behind the sports headlines we are all familiar with and showing their relevance to one of the thorniest issues of our history and present situation. Well done, thanks Howard.

This is about the finest book I have read in many years! The content is enlightening, the structure very good tying the protest of Black athletes to the increasing domination of profit seeking companies, and the developments after 9/11 and the effect on pro-sports games. It is much more than a book about protest. I strongly recommend it.

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