When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide

Black Athletes at BYU and Beyond

Darron T. Smith

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2015
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442217904
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations
• Index: Social Sciences

When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide tells the story of Brandon Davies' dismissal from Brigham Young University's NCAA playoff basketball team to illustrate the thorny intersection of religion, race, and sport at BYU and beyond. Author Darron T. Smith analyzes the athletes dismissed through BYU's honor code violations and suggests that they are disproportionately African American, which has troubling implications. He ties these dismissals to the complicated history of negative views towards African Americans in the LDS faith. These honor code dismissals elucidate the challenges facing black athletes at predominantly white institutions. Weaving together the history of the black athlete in America and the experience of blackness in Mormon theology, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide offers a timely and powerful analysis of the challenges facing African American athletes in the NCAA today.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• The Meaning of Sport in the Popular Imagination
• The Origins of Racism and Framing
• The White Racial Framing of Blacks in Mormon Theology
• Black Student Revolts and Political Uprising in the Late Sixties and Early Seventies
• Mormon Attitudes toward Civil Rights
• No Honor in the Honor Code
• Colorblindness and the Health Consequences to Black Male Student-Athletes through the Illusion of a Free Education
• Pipeline to a Pipedream
• Index
• About the Author