Sports in African American culture is extremely important because their history shows that they came from the bottom and even though a lot of things are not exactly the same as it used to be, a lot of African Americans are still affected by being poor because of their families background. Therefore, sports are a big key to getting out of their bad situation. They put in so much work by basically eating, sleeping, and dreaming of the sport to get them out of whatever situation they are in. However, it's not that simple because not everyone make it out due to a lot of reasons and one being a career ending injury.
Just like in the documentary, Hoop Dreams, you could have a promising future and never think about an injury occurring until it happens. In the film, Friday Night Lights, Boobie Myles had that happen to him just like William Gates did in Hoop Dreams. They both were African American trying to make it out of their poor background and didn't really have a back up plan in case something happened which in this case a career ending injury.
I don't think sports are damaging African Americans but it it preserving the myth of race. There's too much history for African Americans to not know that sports are not the only way out and if it really is for some cases then they should scratch and claw for a back up plan if that's what it takes.
