Say Something Real
Football Isn’t Just a Game, Trump Isn’t Just the President
By Michelle Bryant
Michelle Bryant
I read somewhere that Saquon Barkley, of the Philadelphia Eagles, has a structured salary worth around $41.2 million. If correct, this would make him the highest-paid running back in NFL history. So, with all that money, I wish he would buy himself a clue!
Clapping back at observers who questioned his decision to golf with Donald Trump and hang out at the political swamp that is Mar-A-Lago, Barkley attempted to package his actions as simply respecting the office of the president. In a post to social media, he said “Lol some people are really upset cause I played golf and flew to the White House with the PRESIDENT,” he wrote. “Maybe I just respect the office, not a hard concept to understand. Just golfed with Obama not too long ago…and look forward to finishing my round with Trump! Now ya get out my mentions with all this politics and have an amazing day.”
After reading his response, my immediate reaction was “You stupid.” Further thought prompted me to say more and to consider that maybe this young brother is just uninformed, undereducated on the game, or simply clueless to the fact that politics is at the very heart of the NFL. From team names, host cities, and stadium financing, to concussions, you best believe that the game is riddled with politics. Team ownership and the influence they wield in state houses and federal chambers is real. Segregation, racism, and harmful stereotypes about Black male athletes and coaches are political.
Couple that with a U.S. President hell-bent on revisionist history, regarding the plight of African-Americans in this county, and no Barkley, you don’t get to start your post with “Lol” or laughing aloud. In case you forgot, Trump is that dude who effectively ended another Black man’s football career, called him an S.O.B., and mocked him because he chose to use his platform to call attention to the deaths of unarmed Black people, at the hands of law enforcement. Lol, that.
While you were teeing off, the Trump administration was working to remove historical markers of the legacy of slavery, disenfranchisement, and the contributions of Black people from the Smithsonian’s African-American History Museum. I’m trying to conjure up the “Lol,” but it’s stuck in my throat.
Perhaps the dismantling of the Office of Civil Rights, the gutting of the Department of Education, threatening HBCUs, or shuddering programs that help low-income or marginalized groups, like Meals on Wheels, Head Start, or AmeriCorps is funny to you. Perhaps your money has replaced your ability to understand the devastation that this PRESIDENT is having on so many people. Perhaps, you’re just too busy laughing to notice.
Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, John Carlos, Tommy Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabarr, and Colin Kaepernick understood that sports and politics work in tandem. These men, and so many more before them, used their access and proximity to power to help Barkley be where he is today. No amount of talent opened doors like the brothers who were spat upon, kept out, underpaid, or dismissed because of racism and discrimination. Maybe the memory of these athletes and their work could garner as much respect as the PRESIDENT. “Lol,” that.