Jerseys as Markers of Identity, Pride and Politics

Over time, jerseys have evolved beyond their base puprose to indicate the wearer's association with a team- whether as an athlete or as a fan. Certain jerseys, and the teams they advertise, have become symbolic. Jerseys can serve to reinforce the identity markers of the people who wear them- either intentionally or not.

The images and videos in this section provide examples of sports jerseys worn as declarations of identity and political allegiances. Within the images, there are also examples of how sports jerseys are used as a tool of characterization in both film and television.

The white gentrifier in Do the Right Thing wears a Larry Bird Boston Celtics t-shirt.

Spike Lee's Mookie wears a Brooklyn Dodgers jersey bearing Jackie Robinson's #42 throughout Do the Right Thing.

Miles Morales, the first Black spiderman, wears a "New York" #42 jersey in 2023's Across the Spiderverse in a nod to Jackie Robinson.

Queen Latifah as Khadijah James in Living Single in a Howard University Jersey (1993), one of the many HBCU jerseys her character wore throughout the series.

J.Cole Wearing a Colin Kaepernick Jersey at a 2016 concert. Cole was just one artist who wore Kaepernick's jersey in support of the athlete after the NFL blacklisted him for kneeling during the American National Anthem.

Jay-Z in Colin Kaepernick jersey performing on Saturday Night Live in 2017

A scene from Spike Lee's 1989 classic film, Do the Right Thing, in which Giancarlo Esposito's Buggin' Out confronts a white man in a Larry Bird jersey for scuffing up his Jordans... and gentrifying his neighborhood.

Rapper Ice Cube, in a promo for his 2010 documentary Straight Outta L.A., explains the origins of the connection between N.W.A and the Oakland Raiders. The gangsta rap supergroup frequently wore Raiders gear at the height of their fame in the late 1980s.