Let’s face it. The National Football League is one of the most woke organizations in the country. Indeed, it was the place where the disgraceful kneeling before our national anthem began and where cowardly owners caved in to give millions upon millions of dollars to organizations fighting for “social justice”—code words for “We hate white people, heterosexuals, Christians, and males.”
Because it is so left-wing, the NFL is obsessed with getting more minorities (and now women) into head coaching and other leadership positions. This is despite the fact that no credible evidence has come forth showing that minorities or women are or were discriminated against in leadership hiring processes. For the NFL, all that counts is skin color, ethnicity, and race, competence and character be damned. (Except when it comes to the players themselves. While NFL players are over 70% black (overrepresented by over 500% based on their population numbers (13% of the U.S. population)), you don’t hear the NFL clamoring for more white, Hispanic, and Asian players. Hmm….)
To this end, in 2003 the NFL adopted the “Rooney Rule,” which initially required NFL teams to interview at least one minority for each head coaching vacancy. The Rooney Rule has been amended several times since 2003 and by the end of 2021 the rule required every team to:
“interview at least two external minority candidates for open head coaching positions and at least one external minority candidate for a coordinator job. Additionally, at least one minority and/or female candidate must be interviewed for senior level positions (e.g., club president and senior executives).”
The fact that the Rooney Rule probably violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as equal protection clauses in federal and state constitutions that forbid hiring and promoting based on race, ethnicity, and sex did not seem to phase the NFL.
However, at the end of last month the NFL expanded the Rooney Rule in a way that without a doubt blatantly violates our civil rights laws. Under the expanded rule, all 32 teams must hire a minority or female offensive assistant coach for the upcoming NFL season. According to ABC News:
“The coach can be ‘a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority,’ according to the policy adopted by NFL owners during their annual meeting, and will be paid from a league-wide fund. The coach must work closely with the head coach and the offensive staff, with the goal of increasing minority participation in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the most sought-after candidates for head-coaching positions.”
This new policy is a clear violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states:
“It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer –
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Likewise, the hiring requirement violates equal protection clauses of both US and state constitutions, which require people to be treated equally under the law independent of race, sex, ethnicity, etc.
This rule should clearly be struck down in the courts, as just happened with a California law that required a certain number of minorities on corporate boards. It simply is illegal—and morally wrong—to hire or promote someone based on their race, ethnicity or sex. Competence and character—the standards that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., fought for—are the only criteria that should be used.
Once again the National Football League has lived up to its reputation of being one of the most woke organizations in our country. Indeed, the NFL is committed to overtly violating civil rights law to advance its left-wing agenda. You see, to the NFL, competence and character take a back seat to race, sex, and ethnicity. Let’s hope that enough people see the NFL for what it is and switch to watching another sport on Sundays—or better yet, spending more time with one’s family and friends.
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