Reifying Contemporary Versions of Liquified Racism: Black Representation in Competitive Swimming

Abstract

Throughout history, water as a tool for racialized oppression has been in constant evolution. From utilizing water as a passage to transport slaves, to using fire hoses as a form of punishment toward Black people, liquified racism is a concept we coined to represent past and present racial discrimination through the use of water. In this paper, we conducted a critical content analysis of the USA swim team and the swim team pages of the top ten Division I men’s and women’s college swimming programs to uncover how liquified racism is prominent within these contexts. Findings suggest that Blackness is racialized, tokenized, and perpetually silenced on swimming websites. We argue that Black individuals lacking representation in this sport, along with discourse surrounding competitive swimming, ultimately promotes whiteness, racial hierarchies, and an illusion of postracism.

The Water Surrounding the Iceberg: Cultural Racism and Health Inequities

“…Several scholars have defined cultural racism and its role in producing health inequities, 18, 20, 32–34 and a recent systematic review found evidence of associations between area‐level racial prejudice—a measure of cultural racism—and various adverse health outcomes 35 . However, beyond this small body of literature, empirical research explicitly operationalizing cultural racism and examining associations with health outcomes is sparse.…”

“…Numerous authors have used the water metaphor to discuss racism, but here, we apply it specifically to cultural racism. 3,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30] As the water, cultural racism buttresses the other dimensions of racism in the production of social and health inequities. Simultaneously, cultural racism rationalizes, naturalizes, and obscures structural racism, as the murky (i.e., "darkly vague or obscure" 31 ) water surrounding the iceberg renders its base invisible.…”

“…Returning to the iceberg analogy, we conceptualize cultural racism as the water surrounding the iceberg , allowing it to float. Numerous authors have used the water metaphor to discuss racism, but here, we apply it specifically to cultural racism 3, 24–30 . As the water, cultural racism buttresses the other dimensions of racism in the production of social and health inequities.…”