Ben Roethlisberger and the Power of Privilege

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White is Right: Ben Roethlisberger and the Power of Privilege

David J. Leonard and C. Richard King

On Monday, District Attorney Fred Bright announced that Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would not face charges following a complaint from a 20-year old woman that he sexually assaulted her in a bar bathroom. Neither of us is surprised by this announcement given the ways that Roethlisberger has been rendered innocent by much of the media, by fans, and by the league throughout this investigation. Indeed, given that less than a year ago, after accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman in Lake Tahoe, ESPN issued a “do not report” memo, while others within the blogosphere went on the offensive against the alleged victim, what else could one anticipate. After the latest allegations, resulting in a culture of presumed innocence and wanton skepticism regarding the possibility of Roethlisberger being guilty, it is little surprise that Ben was seen as at worst immature and needing to grow up. Acknowledging that he is “innocent until proven guilty,” (or innocent until deemed innocent) we are left wonder why this protected right is one reserved for white athletes but not black athletes.

Jemele Hill, one of the few commentators to bring race into the discussion, directs attention to Commissioner Roger Goodell and his decision to wait to meet with Roethlisberger until the “appropriate time.” Hill rightly notes a double standard whereupon the Commissioner did not afford black players in the NFL similar patience.

When Goodell sat [Adam "Pacman"] Jones down for a year, he wanted to send a message that irresponsible behavior could cost an NFL player his livelihood…If Goodell doesn't schedule a meeting with Roethlisberger immediately, it feeds the perception that white NFL stars under criminal investigation are treated differently and will receive more benefit of the doubt than their black counterparts.

Whereas several black players, including Chris Henry Michael Vick, Adam Jones, and Brandon Marshall, were suspended prior to the conclusion of their criminal cases, with others being cut/suspended by their respective teams immediately after their arrest(s) (Cedric Bensen, Tank Johnson, and Plaxico Burress) Roethlisberger has been immune from the long arm of the NFL’s law (On April 13, the NFL announced it would “review all the facts and follow up at the appropriate time”). Not surprisingly, Hill’s insistence of looking at race prompted ample criticism and accusations that she was “playing the race card.” Still, Roethlisberger has benefited from a culture of presumed innocence not of athletes in general but specifically white athletes.

Still the accusations against Roethlisberger have elicited one strand of condemnation directed at the culture of the sports media and its refusal to report the criminal misconduct of today’s athletes. For example, regarding the Lake Tahoe incident, Jaclyn Friedman describes those who either refuse to cover or rationalize misogyny in sports as “apologists.” Accordingly, “The apologists are no laughing matter. They're an essential ingredient in the modern sports culture that protects and lionizes male athletes at all costs.”

Similarly, Anna Clark linked the media silence and the presumption of innocence to sports media culture: “Maybe, however, this inattention is dangerous; an implicit message that if you are athletically heroic enough (and Ben Roethlisberger is certainly that, if nothing else), then we as a culture will look the other way when you are accused of terrible, brutal acts.” Given the hyperbolic focus on the alleged misdeeds of black athletes within the media, from serious cases of sexual violence and domestic abuse to the more commonplace traffic infractions, given the suspensions doled out against ample black athletes, given prosecutorial decisions, and given the ways in which fans, pundits and commentators rally to the defense of athletes like Roethlisberger while convicting countless black athletes, it is hard to take seriously claims that society doesn’t take seriously criminal misconduct within contemporary sports. As argued by Jackson Katz, “media coverage seems to increase when black males are alleged perpetrators.”

According to Berry and Smith, “The truth about African American athletes' representation in crime may parallel the pattern of distorted representation of African American non-athletes in crime.” In other words, just as African American non-athletes become scapegoats, demonized menaces, and disproportionately imagined as dangerous criminals in society at larger, black athletes function as Herman Gray has argued as “a site of spectacle, in which whites imagine blackness as a potential measure of evil and menace.” Likewise, as whiteness signifies goodness, civility, and innocence within the broader culture, the key to Ben Roethlisberger remaining immune from league suspension, media condemnation, fan outrage, and criminal prosecution is his whiteness and it all it represents.

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C. Richard King is the Chair of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University at Pullman and the author/editor of several books, including Team Spirits: The Native American Mascot Controversy and Postcolonial America.

David J. Leonard is an associate professor in the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University at Pullman. His next book (SUNY Press) is on the NBA after the November 2004 brawl during a Pacers-Pistons game at the The Palace of Auburn Hills He has written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums.