Eimear Ryan: Moments of political crisis have everything to do with what’s best in sport

30 years on from Michael Jordan’s comment, the political climate in the US is more toxic than ever, and white supremacy and racism are somehow even more brazen and shameless than they were in Jesse Helms’s day. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

There was a critical moment in The Last Dance, 2020’s Netflix series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, that had nothing and everything to do with sport.

During the 1990 Senate elections, Jordan was approached to endorse candidate Harvey Gantt in his home state of North Carolina. Gantt was a black Democrat trying to unseat the incumbent Republican Jesse Helms, a racist whose voting history included opposing the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and filibustering for several days to try to prevent a national holiday being named for Martin Luther King.