Scrutinizing football’s Violence Often Adds Insult to Injury
Recently, Professor Tracie Canada wrote an article in Scientific American called: Damar Hamlin’s Collapse Highlights the Violence Black Men Experience in Football: The “terrifyingly ordinary” nature of football’s violence disproportionately affects black men.
Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy tweeted, “As a black man and former NFL player, I can say this article is absolutely ridiculous.”
Last week, I wrote a piece showing how Canada used a poor method to make her claim, violence in the NFL does not disproportionately affect black men, and Canada exploited Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest on the field to make a false equivalence between the NFL and slavery.
Last week, I attempted to explain why Dungy found the article ridiculous as a former NFL player. Now, I’ll attempt to explain why he found it ridiculous as a black man.
The comparison between the NFL and slavery gained traction when black players became the majority. The comparison points out a “power dynamic” between white owners and black players. The argument goes: Black players are well compensated, but studies have shown the majority of NFL players go bankrupt a few years after retirement. Therefore, “black athletic labor” only increases the wealth of white owners.