Nation’s woes bigger than sports
Protests around country make other concerns seem frivolous
Since the evening of May 25, when George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis after telling police at least 16 times “I can’t breathe,” it’s been nearly impossible to focus on anything else.
At least for me. Probably for you, too.
But while my attention has been on Floyd’s death and the protests that have followed, my thoughts have been all over the map.
I have spent my career watching and writing about sports, but at times over the last week, the issue of
how, when or if competition should resume has seemed frivolous.
A good number of athletes, coaches and some executives have voiced their outrage. Patrick Peterson, D.J. Humphries and Chase Edmonds of the Cardinals. Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson of the Seahawks. Suns coach Monty Williams.
Marcus Fitzgerald, Larry’s young brother, tweeted that Floyd was killed less than a mile from where he and his brother were raised. Reached late last week, Larry Fitzgerald said he wanted to return to Minnesota soon “to gather more facts and have the pulse of my community” before commenting.
So far, he hasn’t commented.
“His voice will be an important one,” said Bob Wallace, who worked for the Cardinals, Rams and Eagles and is among the first African-American executives in NFL history, “because he’s always been very thoughtful about what he talks about.”
There are a lot of bad ways in which journalists can begin a question. Like “Talk about…” Or simply, “Your thoughts?”
But that’s essentially what I asked Wallace and former Cardinals General Manager Rod Graves earlier this week.
Both are African Americans in their 60s and spent decades in the front offices of sports franchises. Back then, there weren’t a lot of other people of color working in the business. There still aren’t.
“My answers are all over the map,” said Wallace, 64. “I don’t have answers, because if it was simple maybe we would have done it in the past. But we have such a long history of racism. We have such a divided country right now.
“There is not a quick fix to this. It’s going to take thoughtful people, willing to make change, willing to work hard at it. We’re at a turning point in our culture, and it’s up to the good people of this country to make a difference.”
The idea that sports can heal wounds has become so prevalent that it’s practically a marketing slogan for leagues. It’s naïve to think the resumptions of games could have an impact on changing systems that have been long infected by racism.
“We got a lot of bigger problems to straighten before we worry about who won a game,” Wallace said.
But he thinks sports, and in particular the people involved in them, can make an impact.
“I’ve always believed strongly that ‘shut up and dribble’ is not what you want out of your athletes,” Wallace said. “You want them to take advantage of their platform and make a difference. But this is much more of a systemic problem we have right now. I’m not sure Michael
Jordan or LeBron James or Richard Sherman, by themselves, can make a difference.”
It’s important, Wallace said, that white athletes speak out. And that’s happened some over the last week with Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle and Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt among those who have expressed disgust at Floyd’s death at the hands of policemen.
Wallace blamed President Trump for not only a lack of leadership in the days that followed, but also for widening the divide between people. Graves also brought up the issue of missing leadership.
“I think it goes even beyond the White House,” said Graves, 61, the executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an organization that champions diversity in the NFL. “I asked my wife (Dreama) the other day, ‘where is the leadership?’ I grew up in a time when you had strong voices from the church. You had strong political voices. You had people like John Lewis, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr.
“They were people that people all across the nation listened to. They had great respect. I just don’t hear as many of those type of people anymore. In fact, I’m wondering who they are.”
But Graves isn’t a pessimist about the country’s future. And he still believes sports provide “a commonality that no other vehicle provides.
“It offers a diversion and we’re able to use it as therapy to some degree.”
Graves works in Washington, D.C., and lives in suburban Bethesda, Md., with his wife and teenage son. Monday morning, he and Dreama went for a walk on a trail near their home. Attached to a fence was a sign with the message, “We love you George Floyd.”
“I know we’re one of the few AfricanAmerican families that pass the fence, so I doubt it was someone of my persuasion who put it up there,” Graves said. “I think that’s symbolic of people out there in this universe and this country who do care, that want to see a different climate.
“This is about how we want to conduct ourselves as a nation, and what’s right and what’s wrong.”