From the Crowd to the Competition: White Collegiate Athletes' Response to Racism Directed at a Teammate of Color

摘要

News sources consistently report stories about issues of racism in athletics. Despite the prominence of these reports, few empirical studies have investigated how observers of racism respond to perpetrators in sport settings. In the present study, perpetrator of racism, type of sport played, and interracial contact on a team were analyzed to understand how White collegiate athletes respond to racism directed at a teammate of color. White collegiate athletes reacted to two vignettes and rated possible responses when witnessing a teammate of color experiencing racism during competition. Results showed that cooperative sport collegiate athletes endorsed more direct action against racism from an opposing player than individualistic sport collegiate athletes. Also, greater interracial contact on an athlete's team related to decreased endorsement of redirection against racism from opposing fans. Further, athletes expressed significantly greater willingness to report racism from opposing fans than from an opposing player. Implications for how White collegiate athletes respond to racism during competition are discussed.