Scott N. Brooks, draped in a dapper shawl-
collar sweater, looked out on the auditorium
of mostly white students in puffy coats and
sweats as they silently squirmed at his
question. Why, he had asked, does Maria
Sharapova, a white Russian tennis player,
earn nearly twice as much in endorsements
as Serena Williams, an African-American with
a much better win-loss record?
Because Sharapova’s prettier, has blondish hair
and longer, thinner legs? Because female
consumers more want to buy stuff that holds out the promise that they’ll look more like Sharapova
than Serena?

“We like to think it’s all about merit,” said Dr.
Brooks, a sociology professor at the
University of Missouri, speaking in the
casual cadence of his days as a nightclub
D.J. “It’s sport. Simply, the best should earn
the most money.”
Or maybe the most money should go to the
athlete who takes fewer artificial male hormones?
In any case, only two women make the Forbes top
100 highest paid athletes. Serena makes $13
million per year in endorsements, which is only
half of Sharapova’s $26 million, but a lot more
than most other female athletes. On the other
hand, Serena makes about twice what quarterback
Tom Brady, who has won four Super Bowls,
makes in endorsements, and she makes more
than ten times what Clayton Kershaw, the best
baseball pitcher of the 2010s, makes in
endorsements.
In the current Forbes list, the top five
beneficiaries of endorsees are Roger Federer
(white), Tiger Woods (caublinasian), Phil
Mickelson (white), LeBron James (black), and
Kevin Durant (black). Blacks would seem to do
fine overall.
If you want to get it into the details, black men
seem to do extremely well from endorsements,
black women less so. Could this have something
to do with blacks being more masculine on
average?
Fortunately, college students know enough not to
bring up suggestions like that. They know that if
they just sit there with blank looks on their faces,
eventually the racial haranguing will stop and
they’ll be allowed to leave.
Maybe tennis is not as popular here as
overseas, one student offered. Dr. Brooks
countered: Ms. Williams is a global figure. As
the room fell silent, the elephant settled in.
Most sat still, eyes transfixed on the stage.
None of the participants — roughly 70
students new to the University of Missouri —
dared to offer the reason for the disparity
that seemed most obvious. Race.
The new frontier in the university’s eternal
struggle with race starts here, with blunt
conversations that seek to bridge a stark
campus divide. Yet what was evident in this
pregnant moment during a new diversity
session that the university is requiring of all
new students was this: People just don’t want
to discuss it.
The racist episodes that rocked the Missouri
campus last fall, leading to resignations by
its president and chancellor, set
administrators here and around the country
on frantic course correction efforts. They
have held town halls to hear students’
complaints, convened task forces to study
campus climates, adjusted recruiting
strategies and put in place new sessions on
implicit bias and diversity, like the one Dr.
Brooks spoke at, held in mid-January.
More an introduction to the diversity on
campus than an instruction manual for
navigating it, the session featured eight
professors who spoke about their teaching
and research that related to race and culture.
One presented a campus survey showing
how Missouri students’ attitudes broke down
based on their race (for instance, about 63
percent of black students identified as
liberal, while only 38 percent of whites did).
Another discussed myths about Islam and
offered a few surprising facts (the country’s
oldest mosque is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa). Yet
another talked about cultural appropriation
(Mexican-themed costume parties can be
offensive).
And then there was Dr. Brooks, a 43-year-old
African-American who teaches “Race and
Ethnic Relations” and challenged the students
to think about race through the prism of
sports. He offered a gentle explanation of the
Williams/Sharapova discrepancy: “Maria is
considered a beauty queen, but by what
standards of beauty? Some people might just
say, ‘Oh, well, she’s just prettier.’ Well,
according to whom? This spells out how we
see beauty in terms of race, this idea of
femininity. Serena is often spoofed for her
big butt. She’s seen as too muscular.”
Here’s the most popular comment on this article:
Dave Boz Phoenix AZ 18 hours ago
The anti-intellectual nature of this
browbeating session is disgusting in any
setting, but especially in a university. It is
obvious that this is not a “discussion” but a
demand to submit to a correct set of
opinions and answers. The facile and
unsupported notion that a black athlete can
only receive fewer endorsement offers
because of racism is just one of the ill-
thought out examples that indicate that this
not a learning but an indoctrination session.
The students know that they’d better not try
to have a “discussion” or the browbeating
will get worse. This is not a session or an
environment for the purpose of learning; it is
to make the students submissive and to
encourage them to adopt the university’s
approved thought process: “Submit.
Conform. Obey"

Do they have a case ? for me none.

Sharapova is more marketable than serena or any other Tennis player... she replaced her fellow russian player Ana Kornikova who was also a beauty queen. Sharapova has a models figure, its got nothing to do with been black, Henin, Kljister, Li, and the rest of the eastern block didnt get these endorsement because they werent what they needed.

I don't think this has anything to do with "Hatred or Racism" as some might imply. It depends on so many factors$your management also plays a big role in how marketable you are. Beckham earned more than all players during his time despite the fact he was not even in the top best/talented player of his era.

omar22:
Sharapova is more marketable than serena or any other Tennis player... she replaced her fellow russian player Ana Kornikova who was also a beauty queen. Sharapova has a models figure, its got nothing to do with been black, Henin, Kljister, Li, and the rest of the eastern block didnt get these endorsement because they werent what they needed.

True. but blacks always play racist card when things don't favour them

Even in Nigeria Serena may not get endorsement.....she is too muscular for a woman