>>> THE NFL TODAY IS PART OF ITS
BILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT OF A
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OVER
CONCUSSIONS IS PROMISING TO END
A PRACTICE CALLED RACE-NORMAL,
WHEREBY COGNITIVE TEST SCORES OF
BLACK PLAYERS ASSUME A LOWER
LEVEL OF FUNCTION.
FROM THE "WASHINGTON POST"
REPORT ON THIS, THE USE OF RACE
NORMS IN THE NFLS CONCUSSION
SETTLEMENT PAYOUTS FIRST CAME TO
LIGHT LAST AUGUST WHEN TWO
FORMER PLAYERS ACCUSED THE
LEAGUE IN THE LAWSUIT OF
DISCRIMINATING AGAINST HUNDREDS
AND POTENTIALLY THOUSANDS OF
FORMER BLACK PLAYERS.
IN THEIR SUIT, FORMER PLAYERS
DAVENPORT AND HENRY ALLEGED THAT
RACE-NORMAL PREVENTED THEM FROM
GETTING SETTLEMENT PAYOUTS.
IN DAVENPORTS CASE, HE CLAIMED
A DOCTOR INITIALLY DIAGNOSED HIM
WITH DEMENTIA BUT THE NFL
APPEALED AND DEMANDED HIS TEST
SCORES GET CURVED USING RACE
NORM DATA WHICH RESULTED IN THE
REVERSAL OF A DIAGNOSIS.
JOINING US NOW IS KEVIN,
PANELIST FROM "AROUND THE HORN,"
VISITING PROFESSOR AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AND
SPORTS COMMENTARY COLUMNIST FOR
THE "WASHINGTON POST."
WAS THIS REALLY FIRST BROUGHT TO
LIGHT IN AUGUST?
>> YEAH.
SADLY, THROUGH THIS LAWSUIT.
AND YOU KNOW, WHATS SO IRONIC
ABOUT IT, RIGHT, IS THAT THIS IS
THE SAME TIME WHEN THE NATIONAL
FOOTBALL LEAGUE AND ROGER
GOODELL ARE TRYING TO EMBRACE
THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT
AND TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY
CARE ABOUT BLACK ATHLETES.
YET ON THE BACKSIDE, THEY WERE
ENGAGED IN THIS LAWSUIT AND TRYING TO APPEAL IT AND STANDING
TRYING TO APPEAL IT AND STANDING
UP FOR SUCH A HORRIBLE, RACIST
ANALYSIS THAT IT JUST -- IT JUST
BOGGLES THE MIND.
YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT
SPORTS, AND WE HAVE TOLD PEOPLE
WRONGLY THAT SPORT HAS BEEN IN
THE VANGUARD OF SOCIAL CHANGE IN
THIS COUNTRY AND THAT, YOU KNOW,
WE LOVE TO POINT TO THE IDEA OF
JACKIE ROBINSON, AND IN DOING
SO, WE WHITEWASH THE TRUE
HISTORY OF SPORT AND RACE IN
THIS COUNTRY.
WHICH IS, SEGREGATION AND
DISCRIMINATION.
AND THEN, WHEN YOU SEE THIS
COMPLAINT, THIS LAWSUIT AND HOW
THE NFL STOOD TO APPEAL IT, YOU
REALIZE JUST HOW -- WHAT A
RACIST POLICY THIS IS, RIGHT, TO
DENY HEALTH BENEFITS TO THE
PEOPLE WHO MAKE YOUR GAME THE
GREAT GAME THAT IT IS, TO PEOPLE
WHO LAY THEIR LIVES OUT TO PLAY
THIS SPORT AND HAVE TURNED SO
MANY PEOPLE IN THE SPORT OTHER
THAN THEMSELVES INTO
MILLIONAIRES MANY TIMES OVER AND
HAVE TURNED THE SPORT INTO THE
LARGEST SPORT ON THE PLANET
EARTH, YOU KNOW, A $20 BILLION
CORPORATION.
ITS REALLY -- ITS REALLY
DISGUSTING, AND I SHOULD ALSO
POINT OUT THAT THE OTHER THING I
LEARNED FROM READING ABOUT THIS
AND MUCH OF THIS I LEARNED FROM
A PROFESSOR AT CUNY UP IN NEW
YORK WHO STUDIED THIS, IS THAT THIS IS REALLY PERNICIOUS.
THIS IS REALLY PERNICIOUS.
WE ARE FOCUSING ON THIS RACE-
RACE-NORM
RACE-NORMING TODAY AS SOMETHING
THAT AFFECTS FOOTBALL PLAYERS
BUT THIS IS SOMETHING IN THE
MEDICAL PROFESSION THAT AFFECTS
PEOPLE OF COLOR, BLACK PEOPLE IN
PARTICULAR, WHEN IT COMES TO
GETTING MEDICAL TREATMENT AT THE
SAME LEVEL AS THEIR WHITE PEERS.
SO THIS IS A REALLY -- THIS IS
ON THE EUGENICS LEVEL, NICOLE.
THIS IS CRAZY.
>> SO, LOOK, THIS STORY CROSSED
OUR RADARS, ITS NOT
TRADITIONALLY THE KIND OF STORY
WE WOULD COVER BUT IF YOURE
GOING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION
ABOUT SYSTEMIC RACISM IN
AMERICA, THIS STORY SEEMS TO, AS
YOU JUST ARTICULATED, INTERSECT
BETWEEN MISTREATMENT OF BLACK
ATHLETES SPECIFICALLY AND
STRATEGICALLY AND RACISM IN
MEDICINE, AND I JUST WANT TO --
BECAUSE I READ A LOT ABOUT THIS
TODAY TOO.
I WANT TO READ A LITTLE BIT MORE
ABOUT HOW THIS WORKED.
IN ITS USE OF RACE-NORMING, THE
LEAGUE COMPARES A GIVEN PLAYERS
COGNITIVE TEST SCORES WITH THE
SUPPOSED NORM FOR HIS
DEMOGRAPHIC GROUP.
UNDER THE METHODOLOGY, BLACK
PLAYERS ARE ASSUMED TO POSSESS A
LOWER LEVEL OF COGNITIVE
FUNCTION THAN THE AVERAGE WHITE
PLAYER.
NOW, ATTORNEYS GOT INVOLVED AND
SAID THAT THE STANDARD MEANS
THAT IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR
COMPENSATION, THE AVERAGE BLACK
PLAYER HAD TO DEMONSTRATE
GREATER LEVELS OF COGNITIVE
DECLINE THAN A WHITE
COUNTERPART.
HOW IS THAT NOT JUST, YOU KNOW,
STRAIGHT-UP RIGGING IT
AGAINST -- I MEAN, IF THEYRE
SAYING THAT A BLACK ATHLETE
STARTS AT A LOWER LEVEL,
OBVIOUSLY, ANY DAMAGE FROM A
CONCUSSION WOULD BE HARDER TO
DETECT IN THE KIND OF TESTS USED
TO GIVE OUT MONEY.
WAS THIS ABOUT MONEY, OR WAS
THIS ABOUT THAT NASTY
INTERSECTION OF RACISM AND
MONEY?
>> YOU KNOW, I THINK ITS ABOUT
BOTH.
ON THE ONE HAND, ITS ABOUT
MONEY BECAUSE IT COMES FROM THIS
CONCUSSION LAWSUIT, AND THE NFL
IS TRYING TO PAY OUT AS LITTLE
AS POSSIBLE WHEN IT COMES TO
THIS CONCUSSION LAWSUIT AND AS
FAR AS THE SETTLEMENTS THAT
THEYRE MAKING.
BUT IN ANOTHER SENSE, IT HARKENS
BACK TO A VERY UGLY YESTERDAY, A
TIME WHEN SUFRPGASSUMPTIONS WERE
ABOUT THE INTELLECTUAL AND
COGNITIVE ABILITIES OF THE
PROGENY OF ENSLAVED AFRICANS IN
THIS COUNTRY.
YOU THINK BACK TO THE TURN OF
THE 19th CENTURY AND HOW JACK
JOHNSON, WHO WAS THE FIRST BLACK
MAN ALLOWED TO FIGHT FOR THE
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP, WAS
PORTRAYED IN MEDIA IN THIS
COUNTRY AND ABROAD AND HOW HE
WAS -- HOW HE WAS DESCRIBED AS
BEING SOMEONE OR SOMETHING LESS
THAN HUMAN.
AND THIS IS A NEW CONSTRUCT,
RIGHT?
BECAUSE THIS -- THIS FIGHT IN
THIS LAWSUIT AND THIS
RACE-NORMING IDEA MAY NOT HAVE
BEEN AROUND 20 YEARS AGO.
THIS IS SOMETHING NEW WHEN IT
COMES TO THE CONCUSSION LAWSUITS
AND THE CON SUGGESTIONCUSSION SE
SO IT IS BOTH, AND IT IS
EXTREMELY TROUBLING, AND THERE
IS -- THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE
NFL, AN APOLOGY, WHICH IT REALLY
HAS NOT MADE YET, IS NOT NEARLY
ENOUGH.
THIS IS SOMETHING -- YOU TALK
ABOUT REPARATIONS.
THIS IS SOMETHING THATS GOING
TO REQUIRE REPARATIONS IN ORDER
FOR THE NFL TO CLEAN IT UP.
>> AND THEY HAVE ONE OF THE
WORST RECORDS IN TERMS OF
DIVERSITY IN HEAD COACHES.
I BELIEVE, WHAT, 29 OF THE 32
HEAD COACHES ARE WHITE MEN.
I WANT TO PLAY SOMETHING I SAW
ON REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT
GUMBLE, AN INTERVIEW WITH COACH
MIKE TOMLIN.
>> IT IS A GLOBAL COLLECTIVE
FAILURE, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE.
>> MIKE TOMLIN HAS WON MORE
GAMES THAN ANY BLACK HEAD COACH
IN NFL HISTORY.
>> YOU HAVE BEEN IN THE ROOM AT
THE OWNERS MEETINGS WHEN THIS
IS DISCUSSED.
I KNOW YOU HEAR THE RIGHT
THINGS.
BUT AS AFRICAN-AMERICANS, ALL OF
US ARE USED TO HEARING STUFF AND
KNOWING [ BLEEP ] WHEN WE HEAR
IT.
>> YOU KNOW, I DONT KNOW IF IT
IS AT THE TIME, BUT I KNOW THAT
THE RESULTS ARE.
YOU KNOW?
>> SO, I GUESS, KEVIN, MY
QUESTION IS, HOW DOES THAT
CONVERSATION CHANGE IN LIGHT OF
WHAT WAS A OVERTLY AND
STRATEGICALLY RACIST POLICY
AROUND CONCUSSIONS?
>> IT HIGHLIGHTS IT IN THE
BRIGHTEST YELLOW HIGHLIGHTER
THAT YOU CAN FIND.
BECAUSE NOW, IF YOU WANT TO TALK
ABOUT WHY HIRING HAS NOT BEEN
EQUITABLE, WHY BLACK MEN WHO
PLAY THIS GAME HAVE NOT GOTTEN
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, YOU CAN
LOOK AT THIS.
AND THIS EXPLAINS IT.
THIS SUGGESTS THAT THERE ARE
PEOPLE WHO RUN THIS LEAGUE, NOT
SUGGESTS, BUT IT UNDERSCORES
THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO RUN
THIS LEAGUE WHO DO NOT VALUE
BLACK MEN IN THE SAME WAY THAT
THEY DO WHITE MEN.
SAME WAY THAT THEY DO THE PEOPLE
THAT THEY SEE IN THE MIRROR
EVERY MORNING.
AND THAT IS REALLY, REALLY
PROBLEMATIC.
AND WHATS EVEN MORE CONCERNING
ABOUT THIS IS THAT THIS IS
SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE HAVE
SUGGESTED GOES ON IN CORPORATE
AMERICA ANYWAY.
THIS IS -- THIS IS SOMETHING WE
HAVE TO FIGHT IN THIS COUNTRY