Episode 110: Floridian and national athletic anti-fascist resistance with Joel Anderson

In this episode, Johanna and Nathan are joined by one of our all-time favorite journalists and a repeat guest: Joel Anderson from Slate. Joel came on to expand on his argument for what prospective Black athletes might do regarding Florida from his February 13th episode of Hang Up and Listen in the "Afterball" segment. We begin by laying the landscape of the FL state's discriminatory policies, including the proposed HB 999 legislation that aims to ban Gender Studies, gives faculty hiring decisions to schools' Board of Trustees, banning many "diversity" programs, and more. This is all on top of banning the AP African American history course as well as requesting that schools submit information about trans students receiving gender affirming care to the state. We talk through how these dynamics could impact the college sport landscape and what prospective athletes could think about doing moving forward: take their labor outside of the state or attend HBCUs in Florida. We discuss the complicated structures coercing athletes to stay silent and compliant, and how athletes simultaneously always have more power than they think they do. The state propaganda photo op over Florida's new NIL legislation of governor Ron DeSantis with UF's athletic director and head football coach alongside counterparts at FSU and athletes has been used to link DeSantis's white supremacy with racial capitalism sport. Black coaches outside of Florida also have a role to play in the resistance, as do other athletes and athletic administrators whose salaries are paid by the exploitation of college athletic workers. While not an uplifting episode, we hope to urge listeners who are athletes, academics, sports journalists, and yes even coaches to stand up and openly resist Florida's fascism and attempt to create "silent and compliant" racialized workers across all industries and walks of life. 

 

For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Updated semi-regularly Credit @punkademic)

Research Assistance for The End of Sport provided by Abigail Bomba.

__________________________________________________________________________

If you are interested, you can support the show via our Patreon!

As always, please like, share, and rate us on your favorite podcast app, and give follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

www.TheEndofSport.com