Created: October 4, 2023 – Updated: January 15, 2024
On August 22nd, Sha’Carri Richardson became the 100 meter track and field World Champion at the 2023 World Athletic Championships. Richardson placed first ahead of Jamaican athletes Sherika Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The last time Sha’Carri had competed against Team Jamaica was in the 100 meter event at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic. She finished last in a disappointing comeback race after a very controversial suspension due to testing positive for marijuana. So, this recent win is a big deal for her. However, social media users and journalists alike can’t help but use the event as a way to try to pin Jamaica and the United States against each other, once again.
In a post-race press conference with fellow podium athletes, including Sherika Jackson, Richardson says, “When I lost…it was more so ‘this country is better than that country.’ But now all of the sudden I won…it’s all about unity & sisterhood,” (JoyNews). I remember scrolling through my social media accounts when Sha’Carri lost to the Jamaican team, and seeing so much discourse in “Black Twitter” between Jamaicans and African Americans. There was this notion that the two dominating teams couldn’t coexist. The media started to take small moments from each team, more specifically individual moments of Sha’Carri and Sherika, and completely blow them out of proportion to make it seem as though the athletes didn’t like each other. So much comparing and criticizing was happening, when in reality Sha’Carri didn’t just lose to the team Jamaica athletes, she lost to everyone. She actually came in last place, but for some reason, society and the media chose to only focus on the fact that she lost to Jamaica.
Fast forward to 2023, Sha’Carri is back on top, and all of a sudden the media is praising the girls, especially Richardson for having a sisterhood bond between the two teams. It was as if they were shocked to see that the two women were even remotely capable of having the maturity to be friendly competitors. I think this has a lot to do with how Black women are viewed in general. Not only does white society/media view black people as unprofessional, they view black women as both unprofessional and angry. When black women embrace their culture by wearing braids, and other hairstyles such as bright, colorful wigs (like both Richardson and Jackson), “they think ghetto—not professional,” (Davis). This concept can be related to the term Intersectionality, a term that can be used to examine the ways in which experiences and discrimination are compounded by people’s experience in multiple marginalized groups at once. It is important to analyze certain social struggles with Intersectionality in mind. In the case of this race, we have to focus on how not only race affects these athletes, but also how their gender caters to the type of scrutiny, microaggressions, and negative media attention they face.
In an interview after Richardson’s win, the reporter asked if she “felt like she earned the respect of the Jamaicans, and the rest of the world…,” (NBC Sports). An interesting question to say the least. Not only was the reporter seeking to get a controversial answer out of Richardson, the question also implies that Jamaica did not respect Sha’Carri prior to the race. Even in such a proud moment, the media is trying to find any spot in which they can drive a wedge between Team Jamaica and Team USA. What I find the most baffling is that the so-called “rivalry” has never been implied by the two women. In fact, in response to this very question, Sha’Carri states, “Not even just the Jamaicans, I feel like I’ve earned respect for myself,” (NBC Sports). It’s a testament to how a narrative can quite literally form out of thin air. However, if viewers pay close attention to what the athletes themselves are saying, and their own actions, rather than the narratives social media likes to follow, they will see that there is nothing but pure class and comradery amongst these two magnificent teams.
Works Cited
Davis, Mark D. WE WERE TREATED LIKE MACHINES: PROFESSIONALISM AND ANTI-BLACKNESS IN SOCIAL WORK AGENCY CULTURE, 2016, https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2775&context=theses.
JoyNews. Budapest 2023: Shericka Jackson Teases Sha’Carri Richardson on USA-Jamaica Rivalry. YouTube, YouTube, 26 Aug. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISi_QZc1rWA. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.
NBC Sports. WOW! Sha’Carri Richardson Wins IMPROBABLE WORLD TITLE with CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD | NBC Sports. YouTube, YouTube, 21 Aug. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOvtaKbkhK0. Accessed 4 Oct. 2023.
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