{"671703":{"#nid":"671703","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Michael Jordan Famously Didn\u2019t Talk About Race \u2014 That Doesn\u2019t Mean It Didn\u2019t Shape His Career","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new book by sports historian\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/johnny-smith\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJohnny Smith\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;deconstructs what he sees as one of the most ubiquitous myths around Michael Jordan: that the basketball superstar transcended race.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EToday, many Black athletes are outspoken in movements such as Black Lives Matter or kneeling during the national anthem. In contrast, Jordan spoke about being colorblind and famously quipped, \u0022Republicans buy sneakers, too.\u0022 Jordan didn\u0027t see himself as an advocate for or representative of Black America during his career, and he was criticized for that, said Smith, the Julius C. \u0022Bud\u0022 Shaw Professor of Sports History in the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ESchool of History and Sociology.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022But in the long run, Jordan was able to leverage his relationships with corporate America to become a billionaire and the first Black majority owner of an NBA team,\u0022 Smith added. \u0022I would argue that had he been an outspoken civil rights figure in the 1980s and 1990s, a much more conservative time than we are living in now, he would not have had the same access to becoming a spokesman, and he wouldn\u0027t have been able to build the incredible wealth that allowed him to become a pioneer as a team owner and part of the sports ruling class.\u0022\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/featured-news\/2023\/11\/michael-jordan\u0022\u003ERead the full article on the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts website.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new book by sports historian\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hsoc.gatech.edu\/people\/person\/johnny-smith\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EJohnny Smith\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;deconstructs what he sees as one of the most ubiquitous myths around Michael Jordan: that the basketball superstar transcended race.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new book by sports historian Johnny Smith deconstructs what he sees as one of the most ubiquitous myths around Michael Jordan: that the basketball superstar transcended race.  "}],"uid":"36009","created_gmt":"2023-12-21 18:02:44","changed_gmt":"2023-12-21 18:06:31","author":"cwhittle9","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2023-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"672640":{"id":"672640","type":"image","title":"mj.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EChicago Bulls - New Jersey Nets match on March 28, 1991\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1703181769","gmt_created":"2023-12-21 18:02:49","changed":"1703181769","gmt_changed":"2023-12-21 18:02:49","alt":"Chicago Bulls - New Jersey Nets match on March 28, 1991","file":{"fid":"255916","name":"mj.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/21\/mj.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/12\/21\/mj.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":265099,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/12\/21\/mj.jpg?itok=lKGlOl3u"}}},"media_ids":["672640"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/iac.gatech.edu\/featured-news\/2023\/11\/michael-jordan","title":"Michael Jordan Famously Didn\u2019t Talk About Race \u2014 That Doesn\u2019t Mean It Didn\u2019t Shape His Career"}],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1288","name":"School of History and Sociology"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:dminardi3@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EDi Minardi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}