Black men can jump

Within the sport of Basketball, there tends to be a recurring, stereotypical understanding that "if you're black you can dunk" or "black people have hops", as in incredible jumping ability. Perhaps this notion has been fuelled by those professional athletes, such as those in the NBA,  with help from the media that showcases the abilities of players within the association to a mass audience. Predominantly the best dunkers are undeniably of African descent, although this stereotype was nearly conflicted when the top two dunkers in the 2016 NBA Slam Dunk Contest weren't entirely of African descent, instead they were two incredibly talented, high jumping 'lightskin' African Americans (pictured below). This idea of Basketball players of African descent being the dominant dunkers within the association, unconsciously creates an expectation for black basketball players that they should be able to dunk. Being a Basketball player myself, there have been numerous occurrences where as soon as a black player steps on the court he is immediately acknowledged for having the ability to dunk, regardless of even seeing him play before. It then becomes unfair when the stereotype becomes an expectation, as for those black basketball players that do not have the ability to dunk, they are downplayed and their abilities are devalued as they fail to meet socially constructed expectations. Similarly to the typical stereotype where Asians are meant to be smart, there is also a socially constructed expectation for Asians to be highly educated and to perform well with their studies. Equivalently they are belittled if they fail to meet such expectations. 

In relation to 'The Grammar of Race' by Stuart Hall, he states that naturalised representations include minority groups having a clown/entertainer component. That they have the natural and innate ability to entertain, and that athletes of colour are inherently physically talented. This goes back to the idea of African Basketball players, instead of proclaiming their dunking ability as an individually acclaimed skill, it is seen as a more inherent characteristic that is expected to exist within a whole group. 

The binary opposite within this exists within White Basketball players, earlier portrayed by the film 'White Men Can't Jump', there is a societal understanding that White people have little to no jumping and dunking ability. The stereotypical expectation then becomes much less than of Black basketball players, and it leads to debasing and underestimation of the abilities of White basketball players. Hence why whenever there is a White basketball player dunking it appears as a spectacle, as if it wasn't normal and implausible. Completely adverse to when Black basketball players dunk, it is seen as a basic, normal skill.