“Anti-Blackness is woven into the fabric of our society” - Jamal Hill
In what might be one of our most self-reflective episodes yet, for the last installment of Swimming Week Johanna and Derek are joined by Jamal Hill, a Black Paralympic swimmer who is currently training for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. We talk to Jamal about what it was like growing up not only as a Black person in the US—where he suggested he only felt comfortable speaking openly about his feelings about racism in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020—but as a black swimmer with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in a predominantly white sport. Jamal credits the YMCA in providing opportunities for Black and other minoritized Americans to learn how to swim, and discusses the challenges that CMT poses for his training and the importance of advocating for sporting opportunities for children with disabilities. Importantly, Jamal’s grasp of the broader, 600+ year history of Black swimming thanks to Kevin Dawson and Jeff Wiltse’s historical works, underpins his perspective on the extent to which American swim has or has not changed (hint: not much).
In the second half of the episode, Jamal shares his thoughts on a wide variety of topics, from what it meant to learn about and present to public audiences on IG TV about Dawson’s historical work on the African diaspora’s rich aquatics history, to the limitations of white swimmers’ activism today (with huge props to Simone Manuel, Naomi Osaka, and others). He moreover offered a compelling perspective about elite swimming’s future in the US: should it remain an NCAA sport when it does not generate revenue, or should swimmers branch out and pursue different training opportunities beyond the college model? You might be surprised at his answer!
You can find Jamal Hill on Instagram @swimuphill and on Twitter @swimuphill, and his foundation to teach one million children how to swim, Swim Up Hill, here.
Jamal Hill’s fantastic IG TV video for the USA Master’s Swimming Instagram account can be found here.
Jamal references Kevin Dawson’s Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora, which can be found here, and also Jeff Wiltse’s Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America, here.
For a transcription of this episode, please click here. (Credit @punkademic)
After listening to the episode, check out our most recent pieces:
“Red-Scare Rhetoric Isn’t Gone From Histories of American Sport” in Jacobin Magazine
"Canceling the College-Football Season Isn't Enough" published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“'We are being gaslit': College football and Covid-19 are imperiling athletes” in The Guardian
“Canceling the college football season is about union busting, not health” also in The Guardian
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As always, please like, share, and rate us on your favorite podcast app, and give follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
@Derekcrim
@JohannaMellis
@Nkalamb
@EndofSportPod
www.TheEndofSport.com
Episode 62: Covid-19 and College Basketball with Jordan Bohannon
Episode 61: Klete Keller, Sport Media, and The Whiteness Problem in Swimming with Christienna Fryar and Matt Hodler
Episode 60: Sport and Politics on the Field and in the Academy with Lucía Trimbur, Part II
Episode 59: Ethnography of a Gridiron Concussion Crisis with Lucía Trimbur, Part I
Episode 58: “A Horrific Canadian Soccer Story” with Ciara McCormack, Part II
Episode 57: “Our Passion Was Used Against Us” with Ciara McCormack, Part I
Episode 56: Raging Against the (College Sports) Machine with David West and Ricky Volante
Episode 55: Constructing New Rooms with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Episode 54: Anthropology of an American Pandemic with Adia Benton
Episode 53: Georgia On My Mind with Amanda Mull
Episode 52: Fascism, Spectacle, and Politics with Maximillian Alvarez and Sina Rahmani
Episode 51: Racialized Organizations, Politics, (and Sports) with Victor Ray
Episode 50: Harm and Hockey with Rick Westhead
Episode 49: Sport and COVID-19 Special with Gavin Yamey and Zachary Binney
Episode 48: #WeAreUnited with Otito Ogbonnia
Episode 47: Talking Gymnastics with Jessica O’Beirne of GymCastic
Episode 45: Racialized Nationalism and Hegemonic Masculinity in Swimming with Matt Hodler
Episode 44: The Culture of Abuse in Swimming with Katherine Starr
Episode 43: The Golden Age of Black Swimming with Kevin Dawson
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