Throughout his illustrious life, Jim Brown was praised for his community work and at times accused of abusing women.
But who could question his incredible abilities on the pro football field or his subsequent career in Hollywood during the racially segregated 1960s as one of the film industry’s few black male stars? There aren’t any.
Regarded by some sports analysts as the greatest football player of all time, Brown was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a running back for the Cleveland Browns and rose to fame at a time when America’s racial divisions were erupting across the country. He used his position to fight for equal rights. Deep South.
From fighting racism in the 1950s to developing anti-gang violence programs in the 1980s, Brown established early standards as more than just a talented athlete.
As an African American studies scholar, Brown, who passed away on May 19, 2023 at the age of 87, raised questions about the role modern athletes can and should play in ongoing political and social debates. I believe it is renewed.
Brown’s first public activity
Unlike later black superstars like O.J. Simpson, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods, Brown was unafraid of potential financial loss and stood up for himself and, by extension, all black men. .
That audacity was evident in 1966 when Brown left football to pursue another career as an actor in Hollywood, a decision that was partially influenced by the actions of Browns owner Art Modell. prompted.
The model was furious that Brown was filming the movie Dirty Dozen in England without practicing with the team, and threatened to fine him $100 a day until he returned home.
Mr. Brown’s reaction was clear.
“Please understand that we are both men and being a man is just as important to me as being a man is to you,” Brown wrote to the model. writes.
His retirement from football in July 1966 was a shock.
As a young man who wanted to be a professional soccer player myself, I couldn’t understand why Brown would walk away from the sport at the age of 30, at the peak of his career.
Little did I know at the time that his sudden retirement was a form of activism to be himself.
Brown said as much in a letter to the model.
“This decision is final and made solely for the sake of myself, my family, and, as corny as it may sound, the future I want for my race,” Brown wrote.
It wasn’t until I started studying sports as an academic that I learned about Brown’s activism, and compared it to other modern-day superstars who rarely risk their livelihoods to protest racial inequality. I came to understand how unique Brown was at the time.
cleveland summit
In June 1967, a year after his retirement, Brown organized a meeting known as the Cleveland Summit, which centered on Muhammad Ali, who had joined the U.S. Army for religious reasons and served in the Vietnam War. It was refusing to fight.
For refusing, Ali was stripped of his boxing title, fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison. But he still rejected the government’s proposal to limit military activities to boosting morale among American troops with boxing sparring matches on military bases and not to take on combat missions.
To show support for Ali and persuade him to accept the government’s offer, Brown enlisted Bill Russell, Lou Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bobby Mitchell, Willie Davis, and then-Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes.
“As Ali takes over the position he held, as he loses his throne, and as the government moves towards him with all its might, we, as a group of prominent athletes, grasp the truth and stand by Ali. “I felt like I could give him something, the support he needed,” Brown told the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer in 2012.
In my opinion, there has never been a more important gathering of athletes before or since. Although the group was unable to persuade Ali to go against his religious beliefs, the meeting said Black men are unafraid to come together and support black men considered outcasts by the U.S. government. It sent a powerful message. Ali was then sent to prison.
“Everyone was taking a huge risk of losing everything by meeting him,” Brown told The Associated Press in 2016. “But what was very real was that we met for about five hours and Ali was asked every question a person could ask.”
Brown said that based on Ali’s true sincerity to his religious beliefs, the men came together as “a group” and decided to “support him fully.”
flawed being
As a sports and entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles, I often see Brown at galas at his home. A few years ago, I spent a day with him at Ame-i-Kan, an organization he founded in the 1980s for gang members and formerly incarcerated men and women.
In both situations, Brown commanded universal respect, and to say he had a presence would be an understatement.
Part of that respect was due to Brown’s public admission that he was flawed.
In his 1989 book, Out of Bounds, he wrote about a domestic violence incident in which he was involved: He has also slapped other women. …I don’t think men should slap women. ”
Clearly, some of Brown’s flaws were inexcusable. But for me, Brown offered a rare glimpse of a proud black man willing to give up everything to stay true to his principles.
The last time I saw Brown was during the 2023 Super Bowl festivities in Phoenix. Despite his frailty, crowded rooms were still divided to give him space.
No one invaded Jim Brown’s space without permission.