A couple of days ago, former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores took a brave, yet risky step. He filed a lawsuit against the Dolphins, Denver Broncos, New York Giants, and the NFL for alleged racism in hiring.
But, to be fair, the ‘alleged’ part of his lawsuit is just there for politically correct purposes.It’s not a secret that the league has had issues trusting black people with positions of authority in the past.
That’s why Los Angeles Lakers legend and social justice activist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had one thing to say about Flores’ decision and one thing only: Why did it take anyone so long to do it?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Says The NFL Is Just Like America
(via Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
“Brian Flores issuingthe National Football League and the only question I have is “What took so long?” I’m not referring specifically to Flores’ lawsuit, but to making public the racism inherent in the NFL like a vestigial limb.
(…) The alabaster ceiling stifles Black ambition and sends a clear message that “your kind” aren’t good enough. Let’s look at thenumbers. Despite nearly 60 percent of the NFL players being Black, at the beginning of the 2021 season only three of the 32 head coaches were Black: Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin, Houston Texans’ David Culley and Miami Dolphins’ Brian Flores. At the end of the season, Culley and Flores have been fired leaving only Tomlin as the single Black head coach.
We like to think of sports as the embodiment of America’s best intentions: a level playing field in which merit is the only standard of judgement. As goes sports, so goes America. Unfortunately, the NFL is an$8.78 billionindustry and the people who control the money prefer the people who run their business to look more like them. In many cases, it’s probably not even conscious racism, just an unconscious comfort level based on what’s familiar. Mashed potatoes over chitlins. As goes sports, so goes America.”
This will of course depend on where you stand and you may or may not agree with Kareem’s take on racism in sports and in America. But numbers don’t lie and the stats are out there for everyone to see.