One subject that I think I write about too often is Race. The problem is that it has become a part of our everyday conversation and not in a good way. I would say that it has become part of our everyday life but I think it always has been.  In the news, Biden wants to appoint a Black Woman to the Supreme Court and you would think that the Earth is spinning off its axis or the moon is crashing into earth. Like there isn’t a Black Woman out there that is just as qualified as some of the Judges that are already sitting on the bench. I can assure you that there are probably a hundred Black female judges out that that are just as qualified as someone one like Bret Kavanaugh. The real problem? There are White people out there that will cry “reverse discrimination”. By stating beforehand that Biden would nominate a black women, just may sound like it is. Do not insinuate that there are not qualified black woman out there that can do that job just as well if not better than some that are already there.  Biden made that pledge during his campaign and 81 million people voted for him so let’s just cut out the fake outrage. Reverse Racism is something that is being pushed by the Republican Party and that is the only reason that we have all the fake outrage.

Also in the news, Brian Flores a former coach of the Miami Dolphins has filed a discrimination suit against the New York Giants and the National Football League on their hiring practices and their lack of minority hiring. He has put his entire career on the line for a cause that he believes in, just like Colin Kaepernick. There are 32 NFL teams and there are 31 White billionaire owners and then the community owned Green Bay Packers.

The NFL is made up of 70 percent by Black players but all the owners are White. I don’t know about you but the term owner is something I find a little offensive when it comes to the NFL. It is almost like they not only own the franchise but they own the players too. The concept of the NFL is to me a little too bit like a Plantation type attitude with every franchise. The owners own the players rights. It was worse before restricted free agency.  The fact that an owner can restrict a player’s movement for the first what? Five years? I don’t care that they are able to make millions of dollars the fact remains that the system is set up for billionaires to get richer off the labors of other people and in this case mostly Black people. I love football but the fact that the players are treated like well paid gladiators instead, to very athletic  human beings, is a little archaic. A person can own a McDonalds franchise but they do not own the employees. If an employee does not like the conditions at the McDonalds franchise they can always go down the street to the Burger King franchise. I do understand why the NFL has their system and I don’t think they should really have to change much but change they should. They need to have more respect for the people that actually make them the billions. The players. I also think that the players are part of the problem. Very few have the courage of a Colin Kaepernick or Brian Flores or a baseball player like Curt Flood. All three of those individuals sacrificed their careers to equal rights and equal treatment.

Every time I write about race the number of people that view this blog goes down. I know that it is a very uncomfortable subject but it is a subject that needs to be discussed. I think that both Whites and Blacks have a hard time with that discussion. I was watching the NFL program on ESPN and Dan Orlovsky said it the best. He said,  “As a White man that has never experience what it is like to be Black I should listen more”. He is correct. I try to imagine what it is like to walk into a room of mostly white people and have them look at me like what are you doing here. I was at an HOA meeting and a black man walked into the meeting. The company that runs our HOA looked at the man and told him that this was a meeting for residents only. He was informed very quickly by other residents that he did belong because he was a resident. The company that ran the HOA just assumed that because he was a black man he did not belong at the meeting. We only have 100 units in our condo complex and the HOA company should have not assumed that the man was not a resident just because he was black. How could I begin to know what that feels like.  I have a real problem that the HOA company is still handling our HOA.

What happens to athletes like Curt Flood, Colin Kaepernick , and Brian Flores should not be acceptable. They need to be supported more by their fellow athletes and also by the fans. Players do have more power than they want to exercise. What would happen if every Black, star, free agent would sign with other teams and not New York?  What would happen if they all said that they would rather play for someone like Mike Tomlin?  One thing that a NFL team wants to do is win and they will not win without those Black players.