"The great sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards has described athletes as "the canary in the coal mine," meaning that the politics and struggles in sports prefigure what will come elsewhere in society. Think of Jackie Robinson integrating baseball nearly a decade before the Montgomery bus boycotts or Billie Jean King signaling the coming of Title IX legislation by standing for women's liberation in a traditionally male and hostile space."
"Trump and his acolytes have turned this country upside down, but you would rarely know it come game time. Twenty twenty-five was the most disappointing, depressing year of sports activism-whether by players, media, or the unions-in my professional lifetime. This is not to say that the entire sports world remained silent. But the brave exceptions were as scarce as hen's teeth."
An annual review of sports and politics traces a long history of athletes signaling broader social change. Dr. Harry Edwards' "canary in the coal mine" metaphor frames athletes as early indicators, with precedents in Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King, Glenn Burke, and David Kopay. The peak of recent activism arrived around 2020 following Colin Kaepernick's protests and the response to George Floyd's murder, but momentum faded. By 2025, organized resistance by players, media, and unions largely vanished, exceptions were scarce, and some athletes publicly embraced Trumpism. The 2020 mobilization served as a capstone rather than a lasting foundation.
Read at The Nation
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