Sports & Ethnicity

In the documentary, Hoop Dreams, we watch the struggles of two African American boys in the inner city of Chicago.  William Gates and Arthur Agee are striving to play basketball at a college level, but run into a number of issues ranging from inequalities in the high school education system to the gap between classes and their respective socioeconomic status.

This documentary raises a number of issues that include race, class, and values in our society.  In the documentary, we find out that Gates and Agee have been recruited by St. Joseph High School to play on their high school basketball program.  St. Joseph is a predominantly white high school with a respected basketball program.  For Gates and Agee, the social environment at St. Joseph High School was foreign to them.  These inner city neighborhoods in Chicago that Gates and Agee were raised in are completely different from the suburban environment that the St. Joseph High School students are accustomed to.  On a daily basis, Gates and Agee had to travel close to an hour and a half to get to their high school.  It is not hard to imagine how Gates and Agee could feel like social outcasts at a high school that is so much different than the inner city lifestyle that they are used to.

White Men Can’t Jump is another film that covers basically the same issues as Hoop Dreams, some of which are regarding race, class, and economic status in American Culture.   I think that these movies are trying to point out that there are some fundamental issues concerning race, class, and economic status that need to be dealt with.