Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Rhoden dissects the Conveyor Belt system, where young black athletes are recruited away from their home communities—sometimes as early as high school—so that they can earn prestige for their eventual colleges and money for professional teams.

Rhoden first details the careers of Coach John Thompson and star recruit Reggie Williams. Thompson, a black coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, confesses to Rhoden that the high school recruiting process seems ridiculous; in order to recruit, coaches must compete against each other in showing attention to the players. Rhoden notes the irony: “Accomplished, mature, mostly white adults representing the most prestigious education institutions in the country don’t want young, mostly black men with basketball skills to think they’re not interested” (173).

He lists the many problems with this recruitment system. The athletes get a too-early impression that they can do no wrong as long as they perform; they learn dependency, being offered special treatment in their studies; they are separated from the typical struggles of less fortunate black people and simply learn to temper the discomfort of the white gaze.

Additionally, Rhoden offers two disparate stories that demonstrate the complications of the Conveyor Belt. Chris Webber, with four other high school seniors, tried to manipulate the Conveyor Belt by insisting the five be recruited as a package; however, Rhoden laments, instead of choosing a historically black college, they chose Michigan, “creating serious wealth for that Big Ten school’s athletic department” (182).