The liberal obsession with race has permeated far beyond academic or political circles and has infected nearly every area of American life. The worst incursion remains the one into our sports culture.
Incoming New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is the first black coach in the team’s history, and he used the occasion to spew a toxic liberal notion of race that sports media will eat up. “I do see color, because I believe if you don’t see color you can’t see racism,” Mayo said.
Whether Mayo is being purposely obtuse or genuinely believes that nonsense, it is nonsense. When people say they don’t see color, they do not literally mean they do not see color. They mean that they do not judge people based on their skin color and instead judge them on their character, their personality, and their accomplishments. They obviously can identify racism, because they can all see when someone is not being judged on those things and is being treated differently based on race.
It must be repeated because the implication of Mayo’s comments is mind-numbingly sophomoric: People saying they do not see color in the context of racism does not mean they literally can’t see color.
Hatred of colorblindness has been pushed by liberals who want everyone to constantly be thinking about race and skin color. This has been internalized by sports media, especially NFL media, who have reduced black coaches across the league to their skin color alone (as they have also done with white coaches). Many handle it poorly, as Mayo has. Many embrace the fabricated racism narratives, as Brian Flores and Steve Wilks did in their pathetic lawsuit against the league.
Only a few reject this patronizing narrative, as Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles did when he was badgered by white reporters about his skin color at a press conference. When asked about racial “representation” in coaching, Bowles said, “I think the minute you guys stop making a big deal about it, everybody else will as well.” When asked about his relationship with another black coach, he said, “we don’t look at color.”
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Certainly Bowles would object to Mayo’s assertion that he must not be able to see racism, don’t you think?
The more people who embrace Mayo’s view over Bowles’s, the worse our country will become in the long run. You can indeed fight against racism without turning everyone into racial tokens based on their skin color. But Mayo’s view, embraced by sports media, has done exactly that — in the process, turning sports just as toxic as politics and academia.