Hey, RGIII, Jesse Owens would like a word
and so the fuck would I!
One of my favorite pastimes is talking shit about pseudo smart niggas in ill-fitting suits. And although my favorite, and usual target, Emmanuel Acho (a story for another day), I am here to address Robert Griffin III!
So, Robert, come to the front.
If bad takes were a sport, Griffin would actually have a chance to see the gates of the Hall of Fame; however, they aren’t so he will never be in the Hall of Fame. My point is: he is notorious for his terrible takes. His latest one may be his worst yet.
*Screenshotted tweets below*
Griffin’s most recent take is tap dancing a little close to the “shut up and dribble” line that Laura Ingraham started saying back in 2018. (You see what I did there? tap dancing..) Anyway, my point is that RG3 is basically doing the bidding for right wing talking heads and MAGAts. And that is exactly what they want.
If a Black man agrees with the sentiment that “politics don’t belong in sports” then it must be true and the rest of us negroes are wrong. We are wrong for speaking up and calling out the racism that is built into these systems. I’m not saying Griffin is the weakest link, but he is pretty close.
But here’s the thing: sports have forever been and always be political. And to claim that Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier wasn’t political is, at best, insane and, at worst, erasure.
During my time at the University of Iowa, pursuing my masters degree, the majority of my research was at the intersection of racism, mental health, and sports. Specifically, Black male (student) athletes who played football. To do some of this research, I spent time in the university’s archives.
I had a complete nerd out. There is something about being able to physically hold—with gloves—so many historical artifacts. The ability to read newspapers and journals that held first hand accounts of historical moments was really eye-opening.
I was able to read the primary sources that told the story of the history of the Black football players at the university and how they walked out of spring practice and it led to a boycott and demands that the students made to the administration—with the help of the Black Athletes Union. They were tired of the treatment they were experiencing on campus and including how they were treated in the athletic department. Due to their boycott, they were dismissed from the team; however, the coach at the time tried to paint it as they quit.
See, Iowa, like many midwestern universities, began recruiting Black students and athletes from the South—re: the Great Migration. Although they were recruiting these students, they still were not truly welcomed on campus. Many of the players and others lived in what is now called the Afro-House—a literally a house that was next to campus but is now officially a part of campus. ( I spent so much time in the house during my tenure at Iowa because, just like the students back that, it became my refuge).
As a Hawkeye alum, I am very proud to state that some of the demands that these athletes made were implemented not only at the University of Iowa but other Big 10 universities. Many of these players lost their football careers; however, they made a lasting impact.
It is these players, and other trailblazers at the university, that paved the way for future Black students—like myself—to be successful at the university.
Unfortunately, like many places in 2020, the University of Iowa had to look itself in the mirror regarding the racism still present in their athletic department. This hard look the mirror resulted in the University of Iowa to pay over $4 million in a lawsuit brought by former football players.
My point is that sports are political, they are the locomotive that usher in change in the rest of society. I am not saying it is the right thing that moves the needle when it comes to social change.
And maybe Griffin doesn’t want to acknowledge the way sports are political when it comes to race relations in America. So, I want to also remind him that during WWII and The Great Depression that baseball was used to boost morale across the country. It became a form of cheap entertainment and a place that people could be distracted from the heavy reality around them. Maybe RG3 will accept that as an example of how sports are political.
Griffin stated that all of these Black athletes who were breaking racial barriers in their respective sports were not in and of themselves political but only had political ramifications.
But hear me out: if these acts weren’t political then they wouldn’t have needed to be done in the first place. Black people existing in white people’s spaces has and will always be political. It is impossible to separate “political” and “political ramifications” because you cannot have one without the other.
If sports are not political and woven into American society, then why are teams invited to the White House?
Jesse Owens winning 4 gold medals at the Olympics in Berlin is as political as it can get. Hitler’s ass was in the crowd and it had become well documented his disdain for everyone not white.
Black people were literally killed for entering into a white only establishment. Black men could be killed—were killed—for just “looking” at a white woman (e.g. Emmett Till). There are still sun down towns: towns that prevented racial and ethnic minorities from living and working within their borders as they forced minorities to leave these towns after sunset.
Robert, even though your career was mediocre at best, you are a beneficiary of these “political ramifications” as you call them. How you may ask? In 2006, Vince Young became the first Black quarterback to win the AP Rookie of the year—paving the way for your dumbass to win that honor just a few years later. Taking it a few years before Vince Young’s historic award, in 2000 Mike Vick became the first Black quarterback to be taken first over all. (Maybe since you were the second over all pick in your draft, you don’t think this stat applies to you. But silly goose, it does!)
For the first time in history, the fifteen of the thirty-two starting quarterbacks in the NFL were Black this past season. None of this would have been possible without having the first Black quarterback: Fritz Pollard in 1920. And he paved the way for Willie Thrower to become the first Black quarterback in the modern NFL in 1953.
Also, the bravery that the firsts had was not just about “challenging the status quo” as you say unless you deem violent racism status quo. Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Jack Johnson put not only their lives but their families’ lives at risk to stand up for something that was (and still is) bigger than them.
At the beginning of every sporting event, the announcer asks everyone to stand, remove their hats, and sing the Star Spangled Banner—the national anthem. This seems extremely political because if sports were just sports why would we need to sing anyone’s national anthem? Why couldn’t we just have kick off and move on? If it wasn’t political, Colin Kaepernick kneeling during singing of anthem would have been an issue. He wouldn’t have been de facto banned from the league.
I think you are afraid to admit that politics are in sports, even though it is very obvious, because it would require you to give up the privilege you have acquired by being associated with right wing people who believe this. It would require you to sit and reflect that you have aligned yourself with a group of people who have views that are rooted in white supremacy and revisionist history. And I think that that scares you.
*Heads up! This post may have affiliate links and/or sponsored content—so if you buy something, I might make a little cash. Capitalism, am I right