COBRA: Stop Watching and Supporting The NFL, It’s a Waste of Time

The Atlanta Falcons convincingly beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game and will be playing the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.  Falcons fans are really excited to see their team go back to the big game, but it’s the Black fans I want to address.

I have heard many proud, Black, Falcons fans endearingly refer to this team as “my team.” Well what has this team, or any team really, done for you (Black people).  The Falcons, just like the entire NFL, takes from Black people and gives nothing back, except lousy memories sprinkled with short durations of great moments of enjoyment and satisfaction.  Black men give their time and energy (in the sum of hundreds of millions of dollars per year) to this league at the opportunity cost of fixing their biggest problem: Racism (White Supremacy).

The power dynamic between Black people and White corporations, whether its McDonalds, Nike, Apple, or the NFL, is the same as the historical relationship between plantation owner and slave–White plantation owners took Black people’s time and energy and gave nothing back in return.  The only difference now is that Black people voluntarily remain in these one sided relationships.

When are we going to develop enough self-respect to only support institutions that support our interest: ending racism?  Take the Atlanta Falcons for instance.  The players are mostly Black, but the organization as a whole consists mostly of White people.  These people create long, cushy careers for themselves off of the blood and sweat of niggers; it’s a very refined kind of exploitation.  The NFL as a whole is no different; the league exploits Black people and White people benefit–White Supremacy.

Black people have not built any self-serving institutions and this is why all attempts at countering racism have mostly been pathetic.  We blindly give what little resources we do have to the very people that have oppressed and continue to oppress us.  It’s time that we mature as a people and devote our time and energies in ways that benefit us as a whole, for if we do not begin do this we may not survive as a people.

If you are Black and are interested in countering racism, please visit www.cobrasinaction.org