Kaepernick and Racism
Short version of this essay: David Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game and Mark McNamara.
Colin Kaepernick had the temerity to sit quietly during the National Anthem as a protest against the murders of unarmed Black people. This made him Public Enemy #1 and now, despite being a very good QB, the NFL is freezing him out.
I have to admit I don't think it's solely racism, but the kind of racism it is seems to me rather pernicious. I mean, when it's okay for murderers and rapists and dog abusers to get a pass, it seems vastly hypocritical to approach Kaepernick in the way that football teams have.
It's not that he's been "political"--if that were the case, wouldn't Tom Brady have suffered for that? It's a particular kind of politics. And a particular kind of rhetoric that is unacceptable in a Black person, one that might spread discontent to other Black players. I mean, let's face it, Richard Sherman is more hated than Ray Rice--and they're both pretty skilled. So, I repeat--it's okay to abuse, but not express progressive politics if you're Black.
Now, I am sure I don't have to give anyone the history of African-Americans in the NFL and how bigotry played and continues to play a part. Or perhaps I do have to address the second part, as many think we're now living in a post-racial society. I wish!
When you look at how many Black athletes have played the game of football, the areas that are telling are how few have been quarterbacks and how few have been coaches. Because, you see, those are cerebral positions. Black people can tote barges and lift bales with the best of them, but their intelligence has been questioned repeatedly and not so far in the past. I believe there are people who are still making a good living as commentators who have expressed such statements.
But Doug Williams' success has led to numerous other African-Americas playing quarterback. We don't need to cover all the ways he was treated as "less than" and that was, to put it in Springsteen-esque terms, the year "Tunnel of Love" came out. Not so very long ago, really. To make a terrible pun, it wasn't "Darkness on the Edge of Town."
But being a quarterback involves a combination of physical skill and mental skill. Not so the position of football coach, which is purely cerebral. This article came out significantly after Springsteen's album "Tunnel of Love." Again, to use Bruce as context, he's now planning to do a show on Broadway:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/african-american-coaches-made-progress-week-nfl-article-1.2947830
Rock and roll.
My reference to Breaks of the Game and Mark McNamara are simply this: a friend of mine's husband told me I needed to read this book, that it was the best book on basketball. This was when I was still a die-hard Sixers fan. One of the points Halberstam made was that NBA teams went to great lengths to keep a mixture of White and Black players to keep the White ticket buyers happy. That was something that had never occurred to me, but when I thought about my Sixers and Mark McNamara, who was on the championship team and whom I wouldn't go to watch if he were playing in my neighbor's yard, it was an awakening experience. Despite accusations from some that I am always looking for racism, I missed it completely.
Of course, now I'm "woke," as the kids and Maxine Waters say.
It is not as bad as it used to be, for sure. In 2007, the Boston Celtics had an all-Black team. The Celtics!
But that was only ten years ago. It's important, always, to see things in a larger context. Ten years ago is the wink of a young girl's eye.
I mentioned Richard Sherman, straight outta Compton, who graduated from Stanford and has done more charity work than Kaepernick will now be able to do:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/bell/2017/08/02/richard-sherman-colin-kaepernick-baltimore-ravens/534922001/
Yes, that same Baltimore Ravens team that embraced Ray Rice and had celebration days in his honor. Oddly, they didn't run any polls as to whether the football fans wanted to honor Rice.
And my goodness, I've rarely seen an athlete more reviled than Richard Sherman.
So I stick with my initial assertion: the NFL finds a Black man more acceptable when he's a murderer or a rapist or a dog abuser than they do one who displays any interest in racial equity.
If that isn't racism, what is?
Colin Kaepernick had the temerity to sit quietly during the National Anthem as a protest against the murders of unarmed Black people. This made him Public Enemy #1 and now, despite being a very good QB, the NFL is freezing him out.
I have to admit I don't think it's solely racism, but the kind of racism it is seems to me rather pernicious. I mean, when it's okay for murderers and rapists and dog abusers to get a pass, it seems vastly hypocritical to approach Kaepernick in the way that football teams have.
It's not that he's been "political"--if that were the case, wouldn't Tom Brady have suffered for that? It's a particular kind of politics. And a particular kind of rhetoric that is unacceptable in a Black person, one that might spread discontent to other Black players. I mean, let's face it, Richard Sherman is more hated than Ray Rice--and they're both pretty skilled. So, I repeat--it's okay to abuse, but not express progressive politics if you're Black.
Now, I am sure I don't have to give anyone the history of African-Americans in the NFL and how bigotry played and continues to play a part. Or perhaps I do have to address the second part, as many think we're now living in a post-racial society. I wish!
When you look at how many Black athletes have played the game of football, the areas that are telling are how few have been quarterbacks and how few have been coaches. Because, you see, those are cerebral positions. Black people can tote barges and lift bales with the best of them, but their intelligence has been questioned repeatedly and not so far in the past. I believe there are people who are still making a good living as commentators who have expressed such statements.
But Doug Williams' success has led to numerous other African-Americas playing quarterback. We don't need to cover all the ways he was treated as "less than" and that was, to put it in Springsteen-esque terms, the year "Tunnel of Love" came out. Not so very long ago, really. To make a terrible pun, it wasn't "Darkness on the Edge of Town."
But being a quarterback involves a combination of physical skill and mental skill. Not so the position of football coach, which is purely cerebral. This article came out significantly after Springsteen's album "Tunnel of Love." Again, to use Bruce as context, he's now planning to do a show on Broadway:
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/african-american-coaches-made-progress-week-nfl-article-1.2947830
Rock and roll.
My reference to Breaks of the Game and Mark McNamara are simply this: a friend of mine's husband told me I needed to read this book, that it was the best book on basketball. This was when I was still a die-hard Sixers fan. One of the points Halberstam made was that NBA teams went to great lengths to keep a mixture of White and Black players to keep the White ticket buyers happy. That was something that had never occurred to me, but when I thought about my Sixers and Mark McNamara, who was on the championship team and whom I wouldn't go to watch if he were playing in my neighbor's yard, it was an awakening experience. Despite accusations from some that I am always looking for racism, I missed it completely.
Of course, now I'm "woke," as the kids and Maxine Waters say.
It is not as bad as it used to be, for sure. In 2007, the Boston Celtics had an all-Black team. The Celtics!
But that was only ten years ago. It's important, always, to see things in a larger context. Ten years ago is the wink of a young girl's eye.
I mentioned Richard Sherman, straight outta Compton, who graduated from Stanford and has done more charity work than Kaepernick will now be able to do:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/columnist/bell/2017/08/02/richard-sherman-colin-kaepernick-baltimore-ravens/534922001/
Yes, that same Baltimore Ravens team that embraced Ray Rice and had celebration days in his honor. Oddly, they didn't run any polls as to whether the football fans wanted to honor Rice.
And my goodness, I've rarely seen an athlete more reviled than Richard Sherman.
So I stick with my initial assertion: the NFL finds a Black man more acceptable when he's a murderer or a rapist or a dog abuser than they do one who displays any interest in racial equity.
If that isn't racism, what is?