Inside Conditions: No respect for young, Black athletes

By Aubrey Bruce

Black players that reflect ‘urban’ images will never be treated equally on and off the field

     Last week my house was on fire. My wife told the kids, “be quiet, you’ll wake up daddy.” (Rodney Dan­gerfield)

There was a recent ar­ticle posted online titled: “Fans Lose Respect for CJ Stroud as Calls Mount Against Texans QB’s Dig Against Chiefs Over Con­troversial Refereeing.”

The article was hope­lessly flawed from the be­ginning stating that: “The Texans were never good enough. Not to stop his­tory in the making. They lost 7 games in the regu­lar season. However, since they won the wild card game against the Char­gers, some thought they might be able to stand up to the Chiefs. But CJ Stroud failed to produce the same magic at the Ar­rowhead and lost 23-14, Jan. 18. But his reaction to the game officials was unexpected. During the post-game conference, the Texans QB said, “I’m not gonna go back and forth on what I thought was a call when it wasn’t a call. It’s one of those things you kind of notice before you walk in that arena. I can’t argue with the ref, and at the same time, play foot­ball.”

The article continued: “No one could have ex­pected that the young QB would place the blame on referees instead of owning up to his performance.”

Gimme a break. Why should the players or the fan base of the NFL be forced to grant impunity to the in-game officials who continually commit error after error during the games with little or superficial responses from the NFL? Some said that the Texans were never good enough to beat the Chiefs, anyway. Well, if they weren’t, why were they good enough to make the playoffs and why did the Chiefs need help from the officials to win the game?

How was CJ Stroud supposed to respond? Did they expect him to be in a great mood, gushing with humility and quoting the company line saying: “I am sad dat we lost de game boss, but I am just giddy cause yaw’ll gave us de chance to play in dis here game.”

NFL teams that have athletes of color with su­perior skill sets that re­flect urban and inner-city images will never be good enough to be treat­ed equally on and off the field. They always have been and for the immedi­ate future will continue to be generationally mis­treated, be it economically or socially. With the dawn­ing of a new fire-breathing dragon of misinformation, waiting to scorch and de­vour any credible and honest source of informa­tion, it is not surprising that the images of many young Black athletes are purposely and perpetually destroyed because these young “studs” are not afraid to challenge bla­tant wrongs or even place “filet of Jim Crow” as one of the main entrées on the menus of bias.

As a person of color, have you ever walked into a restaurant or retailer and immediately discerned that you were not welcome or were being watched and scrutinized? Well, I have and that mirrors the experience that CJ Stroud had when he said: “I’m not gonna go back and forth on what I thought was a call when it wasn’t a call. It’s one of those things you kind of notice before you walk in that arena.” CJ Stroud knew there was a fire in the imme­diate vicinity simply be­cause he smelled smoke. He didn’t have to receive first-degree burns to be convinced that flames of racial disparity were lurk­ing just around the corner. Why haven’t the fans lost respect for the men who continue to incompetently “police” the games? Par­don me, but I wouldn’t want to be caught driving through their neighbor­hoods after 11 pm.

Over the years, I have personally overheard and purposely eavesdropped on conversations origi­nating from “journalists” at the center of the Euro­centric paradigm and they have expressed calloused and biased opinions about CJ Stroud’s father and others like him. In 2016, Coleridge Bernard Stroud III, was sentenced to a 38-years-to-life sentence after being convicted of kidnapping, carjacking and robbery. So based on those events, CJ Stroud and others like him should just be grateful just to be playing in the NFL.

An article expressing is­sues with the officiating of the Chiefs vs. Texans debacle was posted by An­drew McCarty on SI.com: “Calls Mount Against Roger Goodell Amid Con­troversial Chiefs-Texans Game.”

An excerpt from the ar­ticle said that: “The Tex­ans were called for sev­eral roughing the passer penalties on Mahomes, who openly flopped at one point during the sec­ond half. While he didn’t get the call on the flop, he received quite a few friendly whistles during the contest. Fans were so outraged during the game that they called on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to do something about it.”

If many fans have not recognized or criticized the officiating shortcom­ings of NFL game officials, CJ Stroud should not give a hoot about them losing respect for him because, to be real, they never had any respect for CJ Stroud or many other Black ath­letes in the first place. Yet, they build shrines for Be­lichick, Brady and Roma­nowski; blatant cheaters and a player who I suspect may be a covert disciple of the Confederacy. While with the Broncos, Bill Ro­manowski spit in the face of 49ers wide receiver JJ Stokes during the game.

Oh, please excuse me be­cause I just plum forgot. We have just celebrated the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and we are waiting for Black History Month to arrive. However, sundown is fast approach­ing and we are horrified watching the vampires of injustice exit the coffins of the past, seeking fresh victims. In the distance, I clearly hear the fading melody of we shall over­come… we shall over­come…..someday.