Dee W
For all of you that aren’t familiar with the NFL it is the professional sports league that
plays football in North America. For many years it has entertained fans and drawn in big
television numbers. With its popularity rising through the years the game has been ever
evolving in terms of on the field, but that just doesn’t look like the case for off.
The league predates the Civil Rights Movement and, in many ways, reflects race in
society through the years. In the 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s there were no people of color on the
team. There wasn’t a rule, but it was just widely known by the owners at the time not to
hire any people of color because “they weren’t good enough to play in the league.” Fast
forward a couple of years and the league has an uprise of black players. For most of its
existence the most important position in the game is the quarterback. The quarterback is
responsible for directing the offense, leading men, and most of the time being the face of
the team. Now black people could play the sport they just weren’t smart enough to be
your quarterback. It’s 2021 now and 68% of league is black while 31% of the starting
quarterbacks in the league are also black. This evolution shows as civil rights progressed
so did the opportunity for black people on the field. But what if I told you just like
America in 2021 the NFL was sitting on a dirty secret?
Wouldn’t you think with the league being predominantly black there would be more
coaches of color? How about even in the front office? Out of all 32 teams in the league
today there are only 4 minority head coaches. Even worse only 2 teams have someone of
color as their general managers. Likewise, there are only 2 owners of color the league.
Just like how America wants you to believe we have come a long way since slavery and
Jim Crow the NFL would love you to think the same. This just isn’t the case because the
message is still the same as in the 1930’s. The majority white owners do not feel black
people and other people of color are smart enough to run their teams. This is made even
more clearly that a clear front runner for some of the head coach vacancies Eric Bieniemy
can barely get a damn interview. Eric Bieniemy is the offensive coordinator for the
Kansas City Chiefs; a team widely regarded as one of the best offensive teams ever. He
has former players and coaches singing his praises and yet not only can he not get a job
some teams are just not interviewing him. Case and point the Houston Texans
quarterback Deshaun Watson whom of African American descent voiced his frustrations
over the team’s hiring process. He gave them a few names with Eric Bieniemy at the top
to interview. They didn’t take this into consideration and hired another coach all without
telling their face of the franchise. Issues like these and many others are being swept under
the carpet and its utter nonsense. If I was to write about the racist crap the league has
done in the past 5 years, I would need a journal and a couple pack of pencils. Hiding
these things will never bring change and I hope by reading this I influenced some type of
change in you.