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RockRam
That's part of what I'm getting at.
The way Flores went about this (even if he is substantially correct), is not how you achieve change.
I'm not so sure about this. Though well-meaning, I don't know too many people out there who don't think the owners have made a mockery of the Rooney Rule. And having candidates appear for sham interviews isn't how to go about achieving change either.
And although many people don't like the term (or would like to deny its existence) this is what "systemic -isms" relies upon - a circumvention of rules (that are plain to see for many) that are designed to keep the status quo. Laws that are established to allow Black people the right to vote...let's set up a "poll tax." Bob and Mary have the same title and do the same work...let's pay Bob more. We all know that I could go on and on.
It would seem to me that the ONLY thing that has seemed to begin to work (because you can't rely upon people to do the right thing) is to file grievances through the country's civil court system.
This is what Flores has done.
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If you are going to make very specific accusations of racism, you better be able to prove it and prove that whatever happened was race based.
There's no doubt that these types of cases are very difficult to win. After all, for a lot of people, unless there's an email from the an owner that specifically says,
"I don't want to hire him because he's Black," they will accept any and every other reason that they're comfortable with (e.g. he doesn't interview well; he's not a coordinator; OK...he's a coordinator, but he doesn't call plays; he has no NFL coaching experience; there was something in his personal background). But here's the deal...even those folks get to the point where they roll their eyes. I mean, c'mon...Josh McCown got a 2nd interview with the Texans. How did he even get a first?
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For the greater good is very naive in this situation.
The
for the greater good argument is only naive to those who typically don't believe in the argument to begin with or have never been part of a group that has been forced to take the "long view" of things.
Flores is completely aware that he's placing his coaching career at risk. I think he's at peace with this knowing that he has an opportunity to shine a light on something that most people understand is happening, but choose to ignore. I also think that he believe that this will help other minority coaches in the future...which I agree with.
