Emmitt Smith Runs the Ball Up the Middle Once More

What's the Matter with DEI

I was pleasantly surprised when I read back in March the Hall of Fame National Football star running back for the Dallas Cowboys Emmitt Smith’s letter to the University of Florida protesting Florida’s sweeping policies to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  Smith’s letter reminded me of the telegraph that jazz musician Louis Armstrong  sent to President Dwight Eisenhower in protest regarding the “Little Rock Nine” integration of Central High School in September of 1957. Armstrong had been reticence to put his entertainment star power in jeopardy by offending white patrons. And who could blame him? At that stage in his career Armstrong was at the height of his earning power as a globally recognized artist. Why would  he go out of his way to offend white patrons who gave him financial success  by challenging segregationist practices even though he endured them his entire life. No doubt it was a tough decision for Armstrong but enough was enough. He could not bear to watch the  televised coverage of white parents and mob toward Black youth who had been organized to test  the mandates after the1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. For Armstrong Little Rock’s white violent reaction was too much. For him it was time for the federal government to act—in the words of  Civil War Admiral David Farragut “damn the torpedoes  full speed ahead.”  In the face of Eisenhower’s reticence, Armstrong boldly canceled his tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department to Russia and telegraphed sharp remarks  to the White House about the federal government’s inaction in protecting the “Little Rock Nine.” Nobody expected this kind of action from Armstrong  because of his genial stage persona.

People were caught off guard by  Armstrong, as was Florida’s legislator and governor caught off guard by Emmitt Smith’s challenging social media statement for Black athletes to boycott Florida’s universities sports over the firing of the University of Florida DEI officer back in March. I appreciate Smith throwing down the gauntlet over this issue. All bureaucratic institutions need oversight assuring fairness to employees and students on multiple levels. This is why the misguided GOP copycat policies going through many red states to consolidate political power lacks foresight.

I appreciate that once more that Black athletes whether they want to be or not are on the front line of the freedom struggles in the United States. A point, I tried to make some years back in the Kansas City Star regarding Black student-athletes and social protest. For the most part, athletes are not activist. They are to focus on mastering their sport to have time to engage in organized protest. The problem is that they are constantly drawn into protest because of the disparaging treatment occurring in their communities or among their ethnic groupings. However, in truth, most Black athletes are seen as  Adonis-like “specimens” not as sentient beings with feelings or minds that are affected by inequities within their communities and country. Fox News Laura Ingraham spoke for much of the country when she stated that LeBron James should shut-up and dribble.

Our national conventional wisdom, steeped in individualism, intentionally blinds many fans to the structural barriers that prevail throughout our society.  We celebrate athletes for their superior work ethic and skills, while ignoring many of the harsh social conditions they work to escape. We prefer to see our athletes as respectable types, not the aggressive persons on putting everything on the line  to capitalize on their athletic prowess.  We do not want to know the rage that fill athletes about the injustices they may have endured or overcome.  Further fans, who are in the majority white and upper-class attending college and professional games have figured out a way to abstract sports from politics to soothe their consciences. Fans like the rage of U.S. style Football, MMA, and baseball, but not when athletes direct their energies towards social betterment.

I was happy to see Mr. Smith’s statement on DEI, though I wish it would have gone further. Having a DEI office is important in addressing workplace culture. However, there is a greater issue at least in my opinion. The truth is that public education, which so many non-athletic Black children attend has been eroded. A DEI office cannot address this societal crisis. Since the 1970s in one way or another U.S. educational policies have been abysmal. They have been horrible because as a society we have not wanted to address the 70-year-old mandates of Brown v. Board of Education. Here, I wish, Smith had gone further in his statement. Perhaps, he, because of his success, can afford to send his children to an elite public or private school, but most working-class parents cannot. Most children will not receive a scholarship to an elite sports academy. And here is the nub of the issue College and university presidents, especially public ones, as the nation’s chief educational officers around the country avoid conversations about public education. They imitate corporate leadership. Perhaps  this is out of fear of their state legislators, which is regrettable. They were forced to make Name, Image and Likeness (NIL)  payments to superb athletes many of whom were recruited out of poor to working-class communities. None of them collectively have made a pronouncement or demanded that black and brown children be equipped to attend their flagship schools unless they can play ball.

I appreciate Smith stepping into the fray on the issue of DEI in Florida. His email and social media inboxes must be filled with hateful and despicable outrage. I also hope he will see the broader issue for black and brown children who need educational institutions that will support their varying gifts too. Nevertheless, I am happy that he ran the ball once more up the middle.