Racism in the NFL

I think the aggravating part of the whole Brian Flores saga is that everyone can see the problem except for the 32 people who could actually do something about it. We all know it’s nothing new, but it seems so craven these days that the shock of the lawsuit has forced people to acknowledge there are – at least – bad optics at play. Hell, up until Sunday night recently retired player, one-year high school head coach, and haunted trading card Josh McCown was considered the favourite for the Texans open head coaching position. Now, with the lawsuit making Brian Flores both an obvious candidate and untouchable, Lovie Smith had somehow emerged as the leading candidate for the position.

In fact, he was introduced for the job on Tuesday, during a hastily called press conference that was interrupted by the fire alarm going off – a “liar, liar, pants on fire” moment for when they said he was always a candidate for the position.

Nick Caserio has been interrupted by the fire alarm at NRG pic.twitter.com/1cb1OxVbkK

— Ari Alexander (@KPRC2Ari) February 8, 2022

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Now, it’s not like we haven’t had recent experiences with racial insensitivity in the NFL,

The Brian Flores lawsuit, if nothing else, has forced a spotlight back onto the inequities of the game, pointed out the long history of differential treatment of players in the League, and exposed how race still definitely impacts the League no matter how many hollow actions Roger Goodell introduces to assuage the problem. A good 1/3 of his lawsuit is an accounting of how race, racism and racialism have impacted the opportunities for Black people – not just players – in the NFL. It’s a hell of a deep dive, and lays bare just how often people have allegedly been denied opportunities – or given extra opportunities – based on the colour of their skin.

So, let’s dig into some history to make the salient points in relationship to all this.

It’s been 165 years since the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, but that decision still rings true in some circles today. The ruling of the Taney Supreme Court was that Scott did not have “American” citizenship because he was black, due to the fact that

Scott was “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into this country, and sold as slaves,” and thus “[not] a member of the political community formed and brought into existence by the Constitution,” Scott was not a citizen and had no right to file a lawsuit in federal court. ^[1]

He therefore could not sue in federal court because he was not a federal citizen, despite having some state rights. Further, the decision invalidated the Missouri Compromise, which specifically defined states as “slave” or “non-slave” holding.

Previously, the Missouri Compromise tenuously kept the nation together by keeping federal territories north of Missouri freed. However, after this opinion, that was meaningless since slaveholders could bring their slaves into nominally free federal territory and not worry about the free status of that territory impacting their ownership over their slaves. ^[2]

This is relevant to today’s NFL because during the flag-kneeling of 2017, Michael Bennett compared the owners threatening to punish players as evidence of a Dred Scott mentality, and took Jerry Jones’ comments in this way,

“You’re a property so you don’t have the ability to be a person first,” Bennett said. “I think that in this generation, that sends the wrong message to young kids and young people all across the world that your employer doesn’t see you as a human being, it sees you as a piece of property. If that’s the case, I don’t get it. I just don’t get why you don’t see them as a human being first.” ^[3]

which led to commentators like notorious MAGA race-baiter Clay Travis to deride Bennett as using history as a convenience when his arguments don’t hold merit. Of course, points like this were immediately undermined when Bob McNair, the now-dead owner of the Texans, implored the commissioner to do something because they couldn’t “have the inmates running the prison”

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And then there’s 1896s Plessy v. Ferguson, considered by many to be the worst decision ever made by the US Supreme Court.

To summarize for offshore readers,

Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. The case stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a car for Black people. Rejecting Plessy’s argument that his constitutional rights were violated, the Supreme Court ruled that a law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between white people and Black people was not unconstitutional. As a result, restrictive Jim Crow legislation and separate public accommodations based on race became commonplace. ^[4]

This has relevance to the NFL – and the Rams in particular – because when owner Dan Reeves (no relation to former coach Dan Reeves) moved the team from Cleveland to LA in 1946, the Los Angeles Coliseum – being a public entity – forced the Rams to integrate at least one Black player onto the roster in order to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that banned segregation in places of public accommodation. This is explicitly noted in Brian Flores’ lawsuit in “Section 1: Factual Allegations – History of Race Discrimination in the NFL, Paragraph 44”.

Martellus Bennett, brother of the above-mentioned Michael, addressed the discrimination toward black coaches and players stating, “The difference is that [the NFL] need the black players to make the league work, they don’t need the black coaches in order for it to work.” Evidence for this comes from the fact that

“[o]verall, the league averages 3.4 coaches per team who are related to a current or former NFL coach, and the percentage of coaches at the supervisory levels—the ones with hiring power—is even higher. Eleven of 32 head coaches are related to a current or former NFL coach. There are 24 coordinators who are related to current or former coaches, almost a full quarter of them.” ^[5]

^{Exhibits A, B & C}

This is evidence of what many have long suspected – that the NFL hierarchies and “coaching trees” are nothing more than good ol’ boy networks. Never mind the Rooney Rule, a bigger sign that the League has a racial hiring problem is the fact that they introduced a program of bonus draft picks for teams that hired minority head coaches. Think about that – they have to incentivize teams to make particular hiring decisions in order to make the League as a whole look good. For those unfamiliar, here is how a team would benefit,

• If a team hires a minority head coach, that team, in the draft preceding the coach’s second season, would move up six spots from where it is slotted to pick in the third round. A team would jump 10 spots under the same scenario for hiring a person of color as its primary football executive, a position more commonly known as general manager.
• If a team were to fill both positions with diverse candidates in the same year, that club could jump 16 spots — six for the coach, 10 for the GM — and potentially move from the top of the third round to the middle of the second round. Another incentive: a team’s fourth-round pick would climb five spots in the draft preceding the coach’s or GM’s third year if he is still with the team.
• Any team that hires a person of color as its quarterbacks coach would receive a compensatory pick at the end of the fourth round if it retains that employee beyond one season.
• If a team lost a minority executive or coach to another team, that team would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years. If a team lost both a coach and personnel member, it would receive a third-round compensatory pick for three years. [6]

Based on this logic, the Dolphins get to move up in the 2023 draft for hiring HE’S NOT WHITE HE’S BIRACIAL DEADSPIN Mike McDaniel, if he doesn’t get removed from the position before then, and the 49ers get compensatory 3rd-round draft picks in the next two drafts for losing McDaniel. Considering the Dolphins signed McDaniel to a four-year deal, it appears Stephen Ross is intent on getting those draft picks improved.

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The shocking thing is that will all this other stuff going on, we have all-but-forgotten the “race-norming” that went on with the NFL’s concussion settlements. It was just this past summer that the revelations came out that the League was revisiting their settlement with retired players over concussions & dementia.

To define the origins of this in the modern era,

The practice of “race norming” harkens back 40 years, when aptitude scores, as a part of federal jobs’ applications, were adjusted to account for the race and ethnicity of the person taking the test. It was an admission that these tests were in fact racially biased. “Race norming” was first used by the Carter Administration and then further implemented and extended by Reagan in 1981 before being subsequently outlawed by George H.W. Bush’s “Civil Rights Act” of 1991. ^[7]

Also called “race correction” and “ethnic adjustment,” race norming can be loosely defined as the numerical adjustment of values for organ function of Black patients based upon a white norm or a separate population-specific standard. The league’s testing was based on this assumption – that Black athletes have a lower cognitive functioning baseline than white athletes, because they presume that Black people and White people are fundamentally physiologically and cognitively different. This lower starting point would then make it more difficult for Black applicants to show the effects of post-concussive syndromes and qualify for their part of the billion dollar settlement.

In a nutshell,

The NFL’s dementia testing evaluates a person’s function in two dozen skills that fall under five sections: complex attention/processing speed; executive functioning; language; learning and memory; and visual perception. A player must show a marked decline in at least two of them to get an award.

In an example shared with The Associated Press, one player’s raw score of 19 for “letter-number sequencing” in the processing section was adjusted using “race-norming” and became 42 for whites and 46 for Blacks.

The raw score of 15 for naming animals in the language section became a 35 for whites and 41 for Blacks. And the raw score of 51 for “block design” in the visual perception section became a 53 for whites but 60 for Blacks.

Taking the 24 scores together, either a white or Black player would have scored low enough to reach the settlement’s 1.5-level of early dementia in “processing speed.” However, in the language section, the scores would have qualified a white man for a 2.0-level, or moderate, dementia finding — but shown no impairment for Blacks.

Overall, the scores would result in a 1.5-level dementia award for whites — but nothing for Blacks. Those awards average more than $400,000 but can reach $1.5 million for men under 45, while 2.0-level dementia yields an average payout of more than $600,000 but can reach $3 million. ^[8]

If a Black former player and a White former player received the exact same raw scores on a battery of tests designed to measure their current cognitive functioning, the Black player was presumed to have suffered less impairment, because he was genetically less impaired to start with by virtue of race, and he is therefore less likely to qualify for compensation. In one case, a doctor had applied the White norms to a Black former player, and the firm overseeing the fund had approved a payout. The NFL challenged the diagnosis in part, court records show, over the doctor’s failure to use the Black norms.

It only came out because the scientists who were evaluating the former players for compensatory damages blew the whistle. They felt they were being legally exposed for having to implement a discriminatory practice as part of a legal deposition.

Further, in a callback to Dred Scott, the judge overseeing the case initially threw out the challenge to race-norming on a technicality: because the players who brought the suit – Kevin Henry (cousin of wrestler Mark Henry) and Najeh Davenport – had waited too long after the initial 2013 settlement to file their case. It was only because of the “political climate present” during the summer of 2020 that the judge agreed to revisit the agreement and appointed mediators from both sides to work out a solution.

What has been the result of this? The majority of the league’s 20,000 retirees are Black, and only a quarter of the more than 2,000 men who sought awards for early to moderate dementia have qualified under the testing program. The Black retirees who were denied compensation will now have the chance to have their tests rescored or, in some cases, seek a new round of cognitive testing. But, thanks to the mere fact of the race-norming being involved in the process, this brings more allegations of how “separate but equal” the NFL compensation process is for Blacks, which is why this issue comprises three pages of the Flores lawsuit (Paragraphs 91-99).

To bring the discussion of race norming to a close, I will refer back to the prejudiced dweeb up at the top.

No – not him.

That’s the guy. Not that the NFL’s issues with racism starts & ends with him – hell, I could do dozens of pages on George Preston Marshall alone.

There is speculation that the NFL’s lead counsel on the concussion settlement, Jeff Pash, knew that the settlement had a built-in discriminatory practice that would save the NFL money — and whether he consciously embraced it. This comes from the fact that there are over 1000 emails between him and former [Redacteds] executive Bruce Allen – emails we know about because of the investigation into the cheerleading scandal stadium culture that forced Snyder to bring his wife in to oversee the organization. These emails, some of which were leaked at the same time as the Jon Gruden emails, discuss topics like Allen’s effort to reduce a player’s salary (Pash called it “the Lord’s work), and commentary on whether players exercise their right to vote (Allen guessed it’s one percent, and Pash said “maybe even take the under“). There is also the colluding circumstance that the two discussed the fact that Vonnie Holliday was traded to Arizona as punishment for statements made while the team player-rep during the 2011 lockout:

• Pash: “I see your player rep is headed out west.”
• Allen: “Just a coincidence. Amazing how it works out.”
• Pash: “Life is full of those little amazing coincidences.”

But the League has refused to back down from its stance that the matter is resolved and no public report will be provided. Hell, the Congressional hearing they held into the [Redacteds] and their toxic workplace uncovered the fact that Dan Snyder has veto power over whether the report can be released or not. This “Common Interest Agreement” prevents the League from unilaterally releasing the report, and binds them to likely severe financial penalty if they choose to “waive any applicable privilege, doctrine, or protection relating to any information and communications that are exchanged.”

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Last night, Dunstan asked for reading recommendations. A favourite sports book of mine is “Forty Million Dollar Slaves”, by William C. Rhoden. The title comes from the fact that some idiot called Larry Johnson that at a Knicks game.

There’s plenty of discussion of what would become “Critical Race Theory”, but includes the perspective of how Black kids are almost forced to use sports to break the cycle of generational poverty – an aspect of racism not widely taught. It taught me how to really look at where an athlete came from, and how the necessity to catch a break – for a Black athlete – is ofttimes the difference between future generational success or failure for that person and their family. Just account for inflation when you read it – add a zero to the salaries to get an equivalent for today; Larry Johnson would get $40 million per season today, rather than $65 million for seven years with the Knicks.

Tonight’s sports:

• Olympics: (CBC schedule, because NBC SUCKS!)
  • Snowboarding:
    • Men’s Snowboard Cross Qualifications – 7:15PM
    • Men’s Snowboard Cross Final – 10:00PM
  • Hockey: Men’s Preliminary
    • Sweden vs Latvia –  8:10PM
    • Finland vs Slovakia – 12:40AM
  • Curling: Men’s Round Robin #2 (all times 10:00)
    • USA vs Sweden; Norway vs Canada; Great Britain vs Italy
  • Alpine Skiing:
    • Men’s Combined Slalom Final – 10:15PM
  • Cross Country Skiing:
    • Women’s 10km Classic Final – 10:15PM
• NHL:
  • Black Hawks at Oilers – 8:00PM | Sportsnet
  • Predators at Stars – 8:00PM | TNT
  • Vegas at Flames – 9:30PM | Sportsnet360
  • Islanders at Canucks – 10:00PM | TNT / Sportsnet Pacific
• NBA:
  • Bulls at Hornets – 7:30PM | ESPN / TSN3
  • Warriors at Jazz – 10:00PM | ESPN / TSN3
• NCAA:
  • Houston at SMU – 7:00PM | ESPN2
  • Xavier at Seton Hall – 7:00PM | FS1
  • Tennessee at Mississippi State – 9:00PM | ESPN2
  • Georgetown at DePaul – 9:00PM | FS1
• AEW:
  • Dynamite – 8:00PM | TBS / TSN5
    • Highlights courtesy Joliet Jake:
      • AEW President Tony Khan is promising a major debut on tonight’s show
      • “Hangman” Adam Page defending his title against Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match
      • MJF will speak on his win over CM Punk
      • Chris Jericho has called an Inner Circle Team Meeting

To conclude, I’m bringing up the gambling again – there are still squares left to be bought in the [DFO] Super Bowl Challenge. It’s just $10 per square if you’re into making the game a bit more of a watch. But make sure to put something other than “football squares” in the description for Paypal or Venmo – we don’t want them thinking this is a backhanded way to support the truckers.