‘I want to make sure no one else’ goes through what I did
Mike Freeman column: NFL, Goodell completely failed Chung after racist incident.
Eugene Chung is on a Zoom call with a handful of journalists, and in this emotional and powerful moment, making his first extensive public comments since experiencing a disgustingly racist incident during an interview with an NFL team, he is calm, reflective, smart and honorable.
Chung, a former NFL player and assistant coach, has handled the aftermath of that incident with decency and class.
The same, however, cannot be said about the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Chung mentioned one remarkable fact that illustrates just how badly the NFL mishandled what happened to him. Chung told The Boston Globe in May that during an interview with one unnamed team, he was told that: “Well, you’re not really a minority.”
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. The last time I checked, when I looked in the mirror and brushed my teeth, I was a minority,’ ” Chung said then. “So I was like, ‘What do you mean I’m not a minority?’ ”
Chung has declined to name the individual who made the remark.
The NFL launched an investigation, and Chung said he was interviewed by the NFL once, and his representatives spoke with the league’s security arm several times.
The NFL reviewed Chung’s allegations and said this month in a statement: “After multiple discussions, including with Mr. Chung and his representative, we were unable to confirm the precise statement that was made, or by whom and under what circumstances any such statement was made.”
This is the part that’s stunning. Chung explained he asked to speak with Goodell but said that request was denied.
The NFL released a statement Monday afternoon that read: “We embrace the opportunity to work with Eugene to hear his ideas on how we can better advance employment opportunities throughout the League, both for AsianAmericans and for all underrepresented groups. As we have made him aware, we welcome meeting with him, and have at no time, turned down requests to discuss these important issues with our staff, including the Commissioner.”
The statement added that Asians and Pacific Islanders are a minority under the NFL’s diversity policy.
If you’re asking me who I believe, it’s not the NFL.
“I’m not letting this comment define who I am as a person, player or coach,” Chung said on the call with reporters. “I just want to make sure no one else has to go through what I did.”
When one of your players endures this type of discrimination, it’s Goodell’s job to get heavily involved and find out not just what happened, but a solution. This is where a commissioner should get those hands dirty. You don’t shift something like this to lieutenants. You dig in yourself.
But Goodell, so far, has done the opposite. How Goodell and the NFL have handled Chung, at arm’s distance, is typical of how the league has mishandled issues of race during the Goodell era. The most blatant example is of course Colin Kaepernick, who was blackballed by the league. The NFL never fully embraced the peaceful protests and only did after the murder of George Floyd.
“We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black people,” Goodell said in a videotaped message last year. “We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the National Football League, believe Black lives matter.”
It took a heinous killing for Goodell to finally acknowledge what the players were doing, which was bringing attention to systemic racism and police brutality.
The NFL has struggled in hiring coaches of color, and race-normed its own players in a league that’s approximately 70% Black.
The reaction to Chung is another example of a league, and commissioner, who often just don’t get it when it comes to race. It also sounds like the NFL’s investigation into the remark was superficial at best. Chung said that none of the coaches he knows in the league were contacted by the NFL.
“I know people I have talked to, head coaches and people high up in the executive offices, who knew nothing about it,” he said of the investigation. “I’m not interested in outing anybody; it’s irrelevant. The mere fact that statement was made to me raised a lot of questions on my behalf.
“My goal is to find out whether Asians are considered a minority (by the NFL),” he said. “There is legitimate confusion, and when the statement was made, it was shocking. I want to get clarity and clarification on whether Asians are considered a minority when it comes to the hiring process. I want to get that out there and answered.”
The phrase is overused, but it’s accurate in this case: The NFL could have used this as a teachable moment. Goodell could have embraced Chung, listened to him and learned from him.
Instead, the NFL took a different approach. The wrong one.
The league Goodell’d it.