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…
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