Though the sports world has made significant progress in the treatment and perception of people of all races, more still can be done, a panel of sports journalists and experts said last night at the ninth annual Shirley Povich Symposium.

“Let’s not always pat sports on the back,” university journalism professor and panelist Kevin Blackistone warned an audience of about 400 gathered in the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center.

This year’s event on “Racism & Sports: How Far Have We Really Come?” featured a five-member panel, including ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, Scott Van Pelt and Kara Lawson. Damion Thomas, the only panelist not affiliated with the broadcast network, is the sports curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History.

Topics included racism in the industry and how it affects the sports business; the use of the “N-word” and how it compares to the term “Redskins”; and how Ray Rice’s race might have contributed to him becoming the “face of domestic violence,” according to Blackistone.

One main point was the unintended consequences of racial integration in sports. While there are no longer racial barriers to playing each sport, panelists said, athletes of different backgrounds still are valued unequally.

For example, a majority of NFL and NBA players are black, yet professional basketball is never considered to be a “white sport” like football is, Wilbon said.

“The quarterbacks are white; the coaches are white,” he said. “But professional basketball has always been seen as a black sport.”

Racial disparities also inadvertently devalue players in certain positions in sports, Thomas added later.

“Yes, you can play, but you can play this position, this athletic position, this less desirable position, this nonleadership position,” he said, referring the fact that more black athletes play at cornerback than white players do in the NFL.

The word “thugs,” in particular is troubling, Van Pelt said. The skirmish between NASCAR drivers at a Chase for the Sprint Cup race Oct. 11 was seen as “all those crazy old rednecks, wrecking and fighting and racing, and we’ll be OK,” he said. But when a fight occurs between black basketball players, for example, people perceive them as thugs, he said.

“[‘Thugs’] is a better word for white people to use for the others, and that’s unacceptable,” he said.

But racial biases are a hard mindset to shake, Blackistone said, because people tend to assume others in certain positions based on outward appearances.

“It didn’t matter that Jeremy Lin roasted and toasted Kemba Walker when he was in college,” said Blackistone, a panelist for ESPN’s Around the Horn. “The fact of the matter was, he didn’t look like an NBA player because he was Asian, No. 1, and No. 2, he went to Harvard University. And look at him today: He’s a starter in the NBA.”

The symposium attracted university staff, faculty and students, as well as students and professionals from around the region, including many from Howard and George Mason universities. This year’s event attracted more people from the greater Washington area than past events have, said Beth Mechum, coordinator for the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism.

Students who attended the symposium said it changed the way they viewed race in sports.

Sophomore journalism major Breana Bacon said Wilbon’s description racism as a struggle for power was eye-opening.

“I never really thought of it that way,” she said. “People were saying there’s a difference between racism and race in sports; that really resonated with me.”

Junior Dan Russo, who had not attended Povich symposiums in past years, said he really appreciated hearing about the different backgrounds of each panelist and that it contributed to depth of the discussion.

When Van Pelt talked about how ESPN’s Cari Champion was recently the target of racial and sexual harassment, in particular, it hit home, said Russo, a journalism major.

“I feel like that intersection isn’t talked about enough, and a figure like Cari Champion combines two not-talked-about-enough topics in both journalism and in the sports world,” Russo said.

The event capped with a question-and-answer session, and a 30-minute condensed version of the panel will air on the Big Ten Network.