NFL and its fans can blur true colors, but anti-Blackness shines through

OPINION: The NFL binds like nothing else, putting us shoulder-to-shoulder with fans who despise the very Blackness they root for.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

“And I’ve been tired so long, now I am sick and tired of being sick and tired, and we want a change.” – Fannie Lou Hamer, 1919

If visitors from outer space used an NFL fan base to gauge America’s togetherness, they’d consider us one nation under the groove. 

They’d look at the supporters and see unity among wildly diverse groups: Blacks and whites, rich and poor, college grads and dropouts, believers and atheists, city slickers and country bumpkins. The left-right divide that carves the country like a scalpel doesn’t leave a mark as  our offense marches downfield and our defense stuffs the opposition. 

Based on three hours of an NFL Sunday, intergalactic observers would believe that all Americans belong to one clan.

But sooner or later, space travelers would find evidence of a different Klan, like the racist terrorists who rampaged in the Red Summer of 1919, the year Hamer, a civil and voting rights activist from Mississippi, was born. She was sickened and exhausted by such mofos, and we abhor their offspring, many of whom still carry the torch in following Donald Trump under the MAGA flag.

The NFL binds like nothing else, putting us shoulder-to-shoulder with fans who despise the very Blackness they root for. Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin didn’t need a reminder but got one anyway for the shirt he wore during Saturday’s game. It read, “Justice, Opportunity, Freedom, Equity, NFL,” with the Steelers’ logo on one sleeve and Nike’s swoosh on the other.

As encouraged by the NFL, fellow head coaches of color Antonio Pierce (Las Vegas) and Robert Saleh (New York Jets) wore the same design last week, as did white head coaches Zach Taylor (Cincinnati) and Dennis Allen (New Orleans). Jacksonville head coach Doug Pederson wore a hoodie with the same words, as did multiple assistant coaches in Washington. Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield also sported gear with those benign ideals – justice, opportunity, freedom and equity.  

I don’t know if there was much reaction in other cities. But Tomlin’s shirt stirred a particularly virulent strain of racism among some Steelers fans (or bots programmed to inflame those fans). 

The backlash was chronicled by Steelers Wire under the headline, “Tomlin blasted by NFL Twitter for ‘propaganda’ sideline wear.” One tweeter asked if the “woke” coach could be ejected “for that ridiculous propaganda rag he calls a shirt.” Another said, “I’d fire Mike Tomlin for wearing that stupid shirt.” Someone else tweeted that Tomlin’s shirt was ironic because “the once mighty Steelers would have fired him 5 years ago should he have been white.”

Such is life for the NFL’s Black fans and employees, surrounded by fans (and co-workers?) who enjoy the product but vehemently oppose social justice. The league can paint “End Racism” in every end zone and put “Stop Hate” on every helmet, but it can’t separate itself from toxic mindsets entrenched in football hotbeds like Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. 

The Washington Post reports that the national landscape has been “divided into places where kids still mostly play tackle and places where they mostly don’t.” The football divide reflects the larger political schism that ails the country: “competing definitions of patriotism, distrust in the media, the fetishization of military symbolism, the trust and distrust of science.”

The NFL is attractive to both sides, but mine doesn’t mock Tomlin’s shirt. We also stand with former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and former NFL Network reporter Jim Trotter, both of whom have filed racial discrimination suits against the league. Way too many NFL fans disagree with our stance and believe institutional racism is a myth.

The league says the right things and acts like an ally, but results are mixed. Diversity has improved among quarterbacks and general managers, but not head coaches and offensive coordinators. Meanwhile, the NFL’s “Inspire Change” social justice initiative is counterbalanced by faux patriotism and blatant glorification of the military, red meat for enemies across the aisle.

When cameras pan an NFL stadium, capturing tens of thousands of spectators in full-throated glee, I know many of them aren’t down with the cause. When ratings reveal that NFL games are TV’s most-watched broadcasts, I know many viewers vote against the interests of Black folks. 

Nearly 60 percent of NFL players are Black, which doesn’t hurt the sport’s unifying power. The Dallas Cowboys are nicknamed “America’s Team,” with fans of every ethnicity occupying every rung on the socioeconomic ladder. But it’s a mirage, just like America’s purported liberty and justice for all.

I watch the games and cheer for my team, along with others who support it. We all wear the same jersey.

But some of them make me sick and tired, showing their true colors at the sight of social justice T-shirts.

Deron Snyder, from Brooklyn, is an award-winning columnist who lives near D.C. and pledged Alpha at HU-You Know! He’s reaching high, lying low, moving on, pushing off, keeping up, and throwing down. Got it? Get more at blackdoorventures.com/deron.

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