Why do the Washington Redskins get to make a sham of “The Rooney Rule” in professional football? If you don’t know what that is, it is a requirement that all teams with a head coaching vacancy must interview at least one African-American candidate for the position. This has been insisted by Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Redskins have had Mike Shanahan tapped for the job for weeks, without consideration of anyone else. I have called Bruce Allen’s office at Redskins’ Park and left a message seeking an answer as to why they just say they are not going to be compliant with “The Rooney Rule”, instead of insulting someone of color by bringing them in for a mock interview. Why are the same white coaches allowed to be recycled over and over again throughout the NFL, while the African-American coaches do all the right things? They get the assistant coaches positions; they prove themselves there; then, they excel at the offensive and defensive coordinators positions, just to be held back in these positions. I was in the barbershop, “the Black man’s country club”, yesterday and bought up this point. Surprisingly, I was met with silence, until one person gave the tepid remark, “we have some Black coaches”. What!!! Approximately 78% of the players in the NFL are Black; why can’t 78% of the head coaches, General Managers, Executives, and NFL headquarters staff be African-American. Now, there are going to be some, and they won’t be white, that will be horrified at that statement because we have been trained not to “rock the boat” or “think too highly of ourselves”. This was just for comparison sakes and to show how ridiculous the misplaced effort from that person was.
Only when people have insisted and fought for what’s right has there been any substantive action taken by those who are not doing what’s right. The church used to serve as the center piece for the fight for social, civil, and political rights. I am a big proponent of a belief in a higher power; as most of you know, I have a nationally known family member in the religious community. However, we seem to content with the constant reciting and chain delivery of Bible verses in emails, text messages, and other means. Are we content with the election of Barack Obama and the few “crumbs” that have been handed down to us? We should be just as diligent in our fight in our lives now, as we are concerned and humbled to get that “pie in the sky” or waiting to see Jesus.
Our athletes today have become so apathetic, when it comes to social and political justice, nothing is expected of them whatsoever. It took Rush Limbaugh to get a pitiful rise out of them, not worthy of any commendation. There are two who are the most egregious, because they’ve had the power to affect the most change if only they would open their mouths-Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. When Harvey Gannt, an African-American, ran for the US Senate in North Carolina against an avowed racist, Jesse Helms, Michael Jordan claimed that Republicans bought tennis shoes also. Gannt lost the election, due to racist tactics that could have been overcome with the type of support Jordan would have bought to the table. However, when Bill Bradley, who I like and admire politically but is a white man, ran for the President of the United States, Republicans had stopped buying tennis shoes, and it became okay for Jordan to support him. There is too much to go into for this post for Tiger Woods, and he has enough negativity around him, so we won’t pile on. These athletes need to step up, because they and their million dollar contracts and endorsement deals stand on the shoulders of those who fought for social, economic, and political justice. One who has been fighting and who has had to agree that his two best friends have been deficient has been Charles Barkley. Shaquille O’Neal has been quietly doing some things, and there are a few who have done some things who people would be very surprised, because the mainstream media and public have vilified them or they don’t fit the stereotype person that some feel they should be.
“Talks” Community, let me know how you feel.