Sociology Essay

Lysvette Rodriguez

Soc-303

Dr. Boudon

11-25-2020

Transcript Selection

Interviewer : Lysvette Rodriguez (me)

Interviewee : Kendra ‘Keni’ Harrison

ME: Thank you, Keni, once more for accepting my request to participate in this informal interview. If you need me to repeat any questions, slow down, or if you have any questions, feel free to go ahead and say it anytime. Welcome!

KENI: Thank you

ME: So, how old are you and where do are you from, please?

KENI: Am twenty-eight years old, from Tennessee, United States

ME: Take me back to your sport’s experiences as a kid?

KENI: Um. Initially, I was a soccer player, but after joining Clayton Highschool, I became a hurdler and short distance sprinter.

ME: What do you believe is the most interesting aspect of athletics games?

KENI: The most interesting thing about athletics is that you get to do what your capabilities allow you to do. It is a sport that I personally find exciting because, unlike my soccer days when I would be excluded from the team, no matter how hard I tried, you can never take my chances in athletics because my performance is self-explanatory.

ME: How long do you intend to push your athletics career?

KENI: Uhm, maybe for a decade or so, but this mostly depends on how I perform with age because faster athletes are born every day, and you have to pave the way for the young talents

ME: What gender pops in mind when you think about sports?

KENI: Personally, I think all genders deserve equal chances and opportunities when it comes to sports. As well, a person is talented and passionate about any sporting activity; we should definitely allow them to chase their aspirations and make careers out of them.

ME: What is your perspective about the connection between sports and race?

KENI: Verifiably, people from the black community were minimized or underrepresented at all levels of management and competition in institutional, community, or professional sports. Blacks were infrequently permitted admittance to competitive games, including the predominant Whites from past historical accounts, and I think it is something that is still present in our society because I went through this discrimination in my soccer days. In this manner, the Blacks contended among themselves in sports and functions isolated by decision or by need. One of the purposes behind the avoidance of Blacks was that "blacks lacked the character or courage to rival them." Since the 1950s, Blacks were permitted admittance to a few games, and they basically dominated and ruled the function of major parts in chosen sports. School sports additionally followed a comparative example. The commercialization of intercollegiate game constrained foundations and mentors to set their biases aside and enlist the best players regardless of color and academic awareness. This difference in strategies is in accordance with the Critical Race Theory, and specifically, the interest-convergence rule that clarifies how laws and arrangements set up to advance fairness upholds the status quo. This is since racism serves to strengthen and propel White Supremacy, assisting with keeping up a status quo that, while unbalanced or biased to racial minorities, permits Whites to hold their places of power. White individuals, in this way, have a minimal motivator to attempt to destroy racism, except if it is to fulfill their apparent advantages. This idea of interest convergence clarifies the progressions that have advanced throughout the years in university sport.

ME: What do you think should be done to enhance racial equity in institutional, community, or professional sports?

KENI: To completely accomplish racial equity, there must be an agreement of interests for the Whites and Black individuals. An examination of past triumphs in the battle for race uniformity affirms Bell’s investigation. For model advances for Blacks, for example, cooperation in Professional and PWI Intercollegiate games corresponded with changing business interests of the world-class Whites groups and Institutions that expected to utilize Black's ability for their financial interests.

ME: Do you think sports have a significant role in improving our national unity?

KENI: Sure. I think sports is the only thing we have that brings us closer to our national language. Think about the Super Bowl, which is the most widely watched television program in the history of our nation. This sport has built a common foundation for individuals across lines of sexuality, gender, ethnicity, and race to embrace discussions about things happening in our nation through sports.

ME: What is your greatest sporting memory?

KENI: I have quite a bunch of them as a kid and as a professional. But I would choose the London Muller Anniversary Games in the women’s 100 meters hurdles race. I couldn’t hide the joy of breaking a 28-year world record.

ME: OK. So, thank you for your sincere opinions in this interview and all the best in your career.

KENI: Thank you!