The Friday Flashpoints
Nobody asked me but....
It irks me to no end that the NFL will field teams filled with an overwhelming number of Black players, but still have paltry records with regards to Blacks being hired as assistant and head football coaches.
With the firing of Houston Texans Coach David Culley yesterday, the NFL is down to one Black head coach, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The funny thing is that whenever coaches like Culley or the Miami Dolphins' Brian Flores get axed, or Black assistants like Eric Bieniemy of the Kansas City Chiefs or Byron Leftwich of the Tampa Bay Bucs get passed by, the NFL media talking heads wax on and on about "experience" and whatnot, while turning a blind eye to the fact that white coaches who never played a down of football get raised through the coaching ranks and, when fired, get rehired by some other team in short order.
Some of my readers may roll their eyes and say "here comes Hobbs raising race again," but I seriously ask skeptics for some reasons other than race that Black players are good enough to run, catch, tackle, and pass—but not good enough to call the shots on any given Sunday?
***I have written about President Joe Biden's speech earlier this week about voting rights for two days straight and now, on day three, the conclusion is here: there will be no significant voting rights legislation, in part, because two members of the president's own party, Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz) and her "DINO" (Democrat in Name Only) best friend, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), will not vote to end the filibuster.
In a speech yesterday, Sinema all but confirmed that she will not vote to end the filibuster despite her support for voting rights legislation. Sinema's words are as callous as French Queen Marie Antoinette's alleged retort to let her starving subjects who lacked bread to "eat cake."
Mr. Biden, upon learning of Sinema's position, conceded that voting rights legislation could be doomed, saying: “The honest-to-God answer is I don’t know whether we get this done...I hope we can get this done but I’m not sure."
Well, Ol' Hobbs is pretty sure that it won't get done, and that the only solution to address it before the 2024 election is to have massive Democratic turnover to keep the House and take a greater lead in the Senate!
***I am sick of Covid. I know that each of you is sick of it, too. After struggling with what I suspected were my typical January allergies this week, I chose to take a Covid test and get the flu and pneumonia ruled out this week; I'm Covid and Flu negative and do not have pneumonia—it is sinusitis, which I am treating and recovering from with meds, fluids, and rest!
Still, I am keeping an eye on the Covid Omicron variant that has hospitals across America almost filled to capacity with the infirm. According to this morning's NY Times, "At least 80 percent of staffed hospital beds were occupied in 24 states on Thursday, including Georgia, Maryland and Massachusetts..."
Once more, cognizant that common sense ain't so common, I implore my brilliant readers to encourage their hard headed kin, friends, and colleagues to mask up, vax up, and maintain safe social distancing practices in the days ahead!
***My father was both a military and civilian police officer, and as a former prosecutor myself, I appreciate the hard work that many really good officers give each day to protect and serve us all.
But I'm also a Black man who has had my own screwed up run in with cops not fit to wear the badge, and I have observed too many times when these types have harassed and killed unarmed Black people—or offered applause and support to their colleagues who have done so!
This morning, my Spelman Sister and fellow journalist, Nicole Duncan-Smith, posted her latest article in the Atlanta Black Star that highlights the mindset of power tripping cops with a grudge. The article focuses on Houston County Deputy Paul Urhahn, a deplorable sort who took to social media in the wake of Ahmaud Arbery's killers Travis Mcmichael, Greg Mcmichael, and William Roddy Bryan being sentenced to life for his murder and posted on Facebook: “That criminal Arbery still got the death penalty though.”
I am not shocked by this response; again, I've dealt with a number of cops that clearly held grudges against Black suspects and yes, their Black lawyers. But one has to be a wholly miserable sort to not concede that the McMichaels and Bryan were dead wrong in killing an unarmed and innocent man, a racist, or both!
And, yes, Deputy Urhahn has a right to his opinion, however disgusting—but he doesn’t have a right to wear that badge!
***Last week, Ngaire Blankenberg, the curator of the Smithsonian Museum's African collections, removed 18 Benin Kingdom Court works from their display cases, noting in the process her reticence to display artifacts culled as a result of looting.
In marking this significant change, Blankenburg said:“I am tired of going to museums and feeling stressed about that question (of looting). I have a visceral reaction to seeing things that shouldn’t be on display. I wanted to make sure that negative reaction wasn’t being felt by anyone else.”
As a lover of history and museums, I, too, have always struggled with the idea that artifacts that were stolen—not donated—have derived enormous wealth and influence for museums in the United States and Europe. Which was why I nearly jumped to my feet in applause when the fictional Dr. Eric Killmonger (played by Michael B. Jordan) schooled the museum curator about this subject in the hit movie Black Panther.
Earlier today, I was reminded once more of Old World European powers' penchant for looting when Facebook Memory reminded of a post of mine eight years ago today about the Amber Room of Czarist Russian fame.
Per my original post: “The Amber Room, or the reconstructed version in Saint Petersburg, Russia circa 2003 depicted here, was a resplendent gift given by Prussian King Wilhelm I to Russian Czar Peter the Great in the Eighteenth Century. By the time it was looted by Nazi Germany during its invasion of the Soviet Union during the summer of 1941, nearly six tons of Amber and Gold trim were extracted and shipped west as Nazi spoils of war. The value of the panels and adornments would be worth an estimated 142 million American dollars if found but its whereabouts, curiously, remain unknown.”
Something tells me that before my eyes shut for the final time, that the Amber Room's riches will "mysteriously" reappear and begin the argument, once more, about whether it belongs now to Germany—or Russia?
Stay tuned...
Thank you for subscribing to the Hobbservation Point—have a wonderful weekend!
I’m so sick of that ridiculous Sinema. I hope her constituents are looking for a replacement.
Now I need to go visit a museum to calm down.
The absence of Black head coaches has to mean team owners firmly believe one or two things, or both:
1. Blacks are not qualified to serve as head coaches.
2. Even if Blacks are qualified to serve as head coaches, it is undesirable that they do so (for whatever reason, by owners, fans, and/or others).
It cannot mean, in actual fact, that Blacks lack the intelligence, football acumen, leadership skills, strategic and tactical wherewithal, vision and tenacity for the job. It cannot mean that Blacks have not earned the right to serve as head coach for a league wherein they have excelled at every level that they have had an opportunity to play, and for which they have paid with their blood, sweat and tears, and sometimes, with their life, and for which they have made billions for league owners and leaders.
Lastly, it also cannot be the case that Blacks will continue to accept these terms: Play ball, but don’t play as team and league leaders and owners. If they do continue to accept these terms, then this old trope is apropos: Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice, shame on me!
Simple fact is this: These teams and this league (same for NBA) would die a quick death if, collectively, Black players United - from the most elite and highest paid player to the least of these. One vine, one vision, and one victory!
Otherwise, it will be the same as always: Divide and conquer!
Action Step: Choose ye this day whom ye will serve!