Damar Hamlin‘s injury sent waves throughout the NFL community, as the 24-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field. Fans and teammates were extremely concerned as he was unresponsive for a brief moment. It was later determined that he had suffered a cardiac arrest and his heart had completely stopped working. This situation did bring into the limelight of how violent a sport football is.
However, a recent paper courtesy of The Scientific American may have gone a bit too far as it makes bold claims stating that “The ‘terrifyingly ordinary’ nature of football’s violence disproportionately affects Black men.” The paper brings the element of race into football and states that “While black men are severely underrepresented in positions of power across football organizations, such as coaching and management, they are overrepresented on the gridiron. Non-white players account for 70% of the NFL’ nearly half of all Division I college football players are black.”
“Through a process called racial stacking, coaches racially segregate athletes by playing position. These demographic discrepancies place Black athletes at a higher risk during play.” The paper states that via this process of racial stacking, the number of Black players in the league is more and as a result they tend to be at a higher risk for injury.
NFL Fans vehemently disagreed with the claims made:
It also elaborates on how the NFL benefits culturally and financially from the performance of Black athletes. Since it is the most popular league in the USA and is worth a lot, it has had a track record of having exploited Black players for decades. While the NFL is not completely ‘The Knight in shining armor,’ the element of race may and the claims made in the paper were not accepted well by the NFL community who called it out on Twitter.
As a black man and former NFL player I can say this article is absolutely ridiculous.
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) January 7, 2023
Let me assure you that there are white people lined up miles long to get into this league. To the degree that it’s “disproportionately affecting black men”, it would only be because the black men earned the roster spot the white guys also wanted. This article is pure garbage.
— T.J. Moe (@TJMoe28) January 8, 2023
So in your clown world, the high salaries that create generational wealth shouldn't disproportionately go to black men either. Got it.
— Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) January 9, 2023
If a *science* magazine publishes an opinion piece claiming that football injuries are racist, can you really ever take them seriously again?
The ratio is well deserved.
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) January 8, 2023
Not a single number or data point in the article that shows that the injury rate among black players is higher. Yet, it cites a claim that NFL playing fields are not that different from…plantations. What an embarrassment to the word "Scientific" in the journal's title.
— PhinallyDone (@Phinally_Done) January 7, 2023
Are there any legitimate science magazines left?
— Tim Wood (@TimOnPoint) January 7, 2023
The magazine does raise the racial divide in the NFL but it does not show enough data to pinpoint that Black players are at more risk than their white counterparts to suffer injuries. Football is a violent sport and all athletes playing in the league know it while entering.
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Related: “F*ck the NFL,” Emily Ratajkowski cryptically lashes out at the NFL amidst Damar Hamlin’s injury
