On Super Bowl week, let’s start here… an aspect that’s very non-Super Bowl-ish and has implications far beyond the gridiron.
On Tuesday former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a 58-page class action lawsuit in federal court against the NFL, 3 specific teams, and 29 unnamed others. He is accusing them of racial discrimination in the hiring and retention of black coaches and high level, team personnel.
It’s actually a fascinating read, as it reads not as a typical legal filing…
It begins with 2 quotes — first by New England head coach Bill Belichick (with his second word, I might add, being a word never felt appropriate to repeat on this blog) — and second by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., addressing the inability to legislate morality but the ability to instead affect behavior. The succeeding preliminary statement then acknowledges that the plaintiff is filing on the first day of Black History Month, desiring to honor the racial leaders who’ve gone before us, such as King, Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson, and more. Combined with additional, included portraits and portrayals, it thus reads a little more narrative in form, in my opinion. Please note: that doesn’t make it inaccurate nor wrong; it simply reads differently.
The case is challenging from a legal perspective, as class actions are always difficult to lawfully substantiate, and in regard to Flores’s situation in particular, he accuses team owners/leaders of sham interviews and other questionable and unscrupulous behavior, not necessarily related to ethnicity. Hence, from this far away, it’s impossible to discern with certainty whether or not Flores was hired, fired, retained or treated differently due to the color of his skin. Let us, no less, additionally never forget that how far away we are shapes and potentially obstructs our perspective in these situations… in most situations, if we’re honest. We don’t know what we don’t know.
So let us simply respond with what we do know, as the Intramuralist’s desire is for all of us, who are created equal, to all be treated equal.
An abbreviated list then of what we know for certain in regard to the NFL, diversity, race and hiring practices…
- There are 32 NFL teams. Of the 32 team owners, 30 are Caucasian.
- 11 of the owners are female — 6 of whom own them outright.
- Somewhere between 58-70% of the NFL’s players are black (rosters vary year to year and throughout the year)
- At the top of NFL office leadership structure — referring to the Commissioner and 9 top positions — there are 4 white men, 2 black men, and 4 white women.
- The “Rooney Rule” was implemented by the NFL in 2003 for purposes of encouraging the hiring of more coaches of color. It established an interview quota as opposed to a hiring quota.
- Since implementation of the Rooney Rule, teams have hired more than 20 non-white head coaches — a bit more than 15% of all hires.
- There is currently only 1 black head coach and 1 Hispanic head coach — although 2 coaches who are persons of color (including Flores) lost their positions last month.
- 19% of current NFL general managers are black.
- The NFL office has openly acknowledged in recent years that they “must see different outcomes” and have not “done well” in building ethnic diversity in its upper ranks.
- Some suggest there is a separation in approach/thinking by team owners and the league office.
- Many question, also, how prevalent nepotism is a factor in NFL top level coaching hires.
It will be interesting to watch this specific case as the off-season begins (note: there’s one really big game to be played first… “WHO DEY,” by the way). Flores, to note, has asked the court for “injunctive relief necessary to cure the Defendants’ discriminatory policies and practices,” in addition to compensatory damages. He, also, as of this posting, remains a candidate for 2 of the currently open NFL head coaching positions.
So how do we remedy this?
How do we ensure all people are treated equally?
How do we ensure we never elevate one ethnicity over another?
These are tough questions, friends. And I have no easy answers. I simply want to always acknowledge truth — even what’s hard — and to ensure absolutely all are honored, valued, and that no man/woman/child is valued less nor more than another.
Respectfully…
AR