[The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Alligator.]
On Wednesday, I went to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts to listen to a talk given by Stephen A. Smith, an analyst for ESPN. I only went because my friend wanted to hear him speak. I texted my brother about it, hoping to make him jealous because he loves sports. I honestly hadn’t even heard of Smith before this event.
I wondered, “What might a sports analyst have to say?” I figured he might talk about being a black man in corporate America. I thought it would be a generic motivational speech, but I wasn’t completely sure what his angle would be. Much to my disappointment, Smith’s vitriolic talk was anything but motivational.
Smith has clearly bought into the idea of meritocracy — the notion that all success is derived from hard work and that those who are not successful only have themselves to blame because clearly, they did not work hard enough.
The pitfall of meritocracy is that it promotes the idea that there are limited resources — social, political and economic.
At the beginning of his speech, Smith asked who in the audience had attended the event with a friend. Most people — myself included — raised their hands only to be yelled at. We were told that there are no true friends. According to him, we were all sitting beside our competitors, and we had to do everything in our power to perform better than our competitors or they would succeed in the world and we would not.
As the old adage goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It’s clear that Smith has chosen to go alone, as have others who live by the principles of meritocracy. This way of thinking that says a person must only look out for himself or herself fails to consider the fact that we are all members of a global community and are all members of American society. We are social beings who interact with each other, and often, our actions affect more than just ourselves.
The only time Smith acknowledged that his decisions were not standalones was when he told the audience that he would “annihilate” anyone who wanted to take his career from him. The only actions that mattered to him were ones that either elevated his own wealth and status or put down others.
Meritocracy completely pardons the oppressive systems that still exist in the U.S. I’ve talked at length in previous columns about how systems such as racism, sexism and homophobia must be addressed and not tiptoed around or ignored. Pretending the U.S. is a completely just nation only harms people who are members of the oppressed communities that are constantly battling social inequality. I had hoped that Smith would acknowledge racism in America and the role it played on his journey to success, but he instead encouraged the audience to stop thinking about racism and just focus on working hard.
Hard work is important, but it is not the only thing that matters.
I’d challenge Smith to take a look around his own work environment and then consider this: Is the lack of people of color in his field a result of societal disenfranchisement, or is it simply that people of color don’t work as hard?
We have to abandon the false security of meritocracy that says if we work hard enough, we will make it. “Making it,” in this case, means acquiring wealth and living comfortably with the freedom to go through life sans oppression.
During his time on stage, Smith said, “I don’t believe I’m negative. I believe I’m real.” This is the reality: There are a lot of people who work hard but still don’t reach success as it is usually thought of in the U.S. Instead of believing that our actions are the only indicators of whether we’ll make it, we need to begin considering all the factors that shape our lives and the lives of others. Once we begin to see the big picture, and not just the details that are our individual actions, we can begin to take collective actions that make life better for all people.
TehQuin Forbes is a UF sociology junior. His columns appear on Mondays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 11/17/2014]
