A Word: Black Soccer GOALS!

Slate News

Slate Podcasts

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.5 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2022

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The eagerly awaited World Cup starts on Sunday. While the sport features star athletes from across the African diaspora, many Black people in the U.S. still consider soccer a white sport. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson speaks with Jermaine Scott. He’s an African American Studies professor at Florida Atlantic University, a life-long soccer player and fan, and an expert on Black soccer history. They discuss why so few African Americans have historically embraced the sport, what’s being done to turn that around, and whether the U.S. team has a chance of success at this year’s tournament. Guest: Jermaine Scott, professor of African American studies at Florida Atlantic University. Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. The World Cup is one of the
0:08.8	top international sporting events, yet for many Americans, particularly African Americans,
0:13.9	it's still an afterthought. Now a new generation of Black fans is hoping to change that.
0:19.2	The MLS US soccer Federation, they can do a better job of breaking down these barriers of
0:24.8	kind of reconstructing this pay to play system that will allow more Black people to participate
0:30.9	in the sport. Building Black love for soccer and the World Cup, coming up on a word with me,
0:36.4	Jason Johnson. Stay with us.
0:44.7	Welcome to a word a podcast about race, impolitics and everything else. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:49.7	Soccer is the sport of the future and always will be. That phrase is kicked around American sports
0:54.3	coverage of soccer for decades, as commenters explain why the world's most popular sport
0:59.5	can't seem to get a foothold in the United States. While the growing Latino population in this
1:03.9	country is moving the needle on soccer, for many in the African American community, the sport still
1:08.7	doesn't register. But now, as the World Cup approaches, a new generation of Black soccer lovers
1:14.6	are trying to get more of us to tune in. Joining us to talk about it is a lifelong soccer fan,
1:19.2	Germaine Scott. He's a professor of African American Studies in sports history at Florida Atlantic
1:24.1	University. Germaine Scott, welcome to a word. Thank you so much, Jason. I'm really happy to be here.
1:28.8	I'm going to start with a simple question. Do you say soccer or football and do people throw
1:33.6	things at you when you insist this should be called football? Oh, Lord, this is like the million
1:38.2	dollar question, right? So my most honest response is that I use the two terms interchangeably,
1:42.9	really depending on the crowd that I'm in. But most times, I use soccer. If I'm talking with a
1:50.6	crowd that's deep soccer fanatics, then I'll use football. But usually in my day to day, I use soccer.
1:59.2	For most Americans, most people who don't know much about the World Cup, what are storylines going
	...

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