BRIAN FLORES

Hey,

Just a reminder I am white.

Last week I pontificated for many paragraphs about West Elm Caleb. On Monday morning a very nice Havas employee reached out to me and was a lot nicer than this but basically said “Hey, so you pontificated about West Elm Caleb for 10 paragraphs and then at the very bottom of the email you wrote like a sentence about Lauren Smith-Fields. What gives??”

She didn’t say “What gives??” In fact, she was so nice and now I love this person for:

  1. Reaching out about this email because any feedback shared truly does get taken directly to my VERY SENSITIVE heart.

  2. I love her for drawing even more attention to what I already wanted to write about this week - how effing WHITE my feed is. 

 

I’m not writing about this topic this week because we just started Black History Month.

I’m writing about this topic because last week I cannot believe I was able to spout off about West Elm Caleb and being a “medium person” meanwhile there were so many other things going on in Black culture. And I literally didn’t know what they were until I had to PHYSICALLY RESEARCH LIKE I WAS A COLLEGE JUNIOR ON JSTOR. But the reality is, I am white, and despite how much I try to force my TikTok algorithm to push me closer towards Black TikTok, I will never be there because that is not a space in which I have been invited to be a part. And that’s okay. That space is not necessarily “for me”.

When we talk about online spaces, really what we’re talking about are interests. We’re talking about commonalities that we all have that drive us closer together to identify ways to engage with one another and practice… being a human. Online. And being a human online is very messy. There are places that are sacred to certain subsets of our culture - truly a beacon of light and positivity that encourages people to feel safe so they can show up exactly as they are. I think about private FB groups that support sexual assault survivors. I think about podcast communities that allow people to write in and get very personal questions answered with no judgment. I think about Twitch streamers that invite women on to stream in “safe spaces.” Those are my favorite part of the internet. And sometimes, I don’t need to be there. Sometimes we need to let those parts of the internet, be ~those parts of the internet.~

Tonight (I wrote this Friday, you’re reading it today. I do my best. Whatever) when I sat down to write this, my BF passed by my office door and he goes “you writing about Brian Flores this week?” I looked at him and said “who?” His jaw dropped ((but then he called me The Culture Cueen and I couldn’t be mad at him)).

I am on a very particular part of TikTok and Twitter, a place where I have thoughtfully aggregated the biggest topics of conversation that are heralded throughout the internet. And in doing so, there are HUGE SWATHS of culture that I miss. I am not a Culture Cueen, I am just someone who really loves human behavior. And in reflecting on my own human behavior I realized that I should be drawing more of your attention to Black culture stories. I am going to try to do that more often.

SO FIRST -

While you’re scrolling, please like Black creator’s content and please follow them.

Do what you can to expose yourself to stories outside of your own. AND SECOND - please realize that some of these places are not meant “for you”. You don’t have to understand it all. Or know it all. You just have to shine a light on it when you can. Therefore, today we’re talking FIRST about Brian Flores - despite how HORRIBLE my football knowledge is. Although I did come in second in fantasy this year. I picked my players based on names. Who would have thought my obsession with a man whose last name is “Kupp” would pay off so handsomely?? (I do not think you want to know how many times I asked during the draft, “Anyone got a SPOON? Or a KNIFE?!” while cackling to myself trying to aggregate a team of utensils. K moving on…)

Brian Flores is the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

He came from the Patriots. Even though Brian Flores coached for Miami for a very impressive three-years, he got fired as head coach last month. His contract was supposed to last for two more years. Flores filed a class-action lawsuit against the league citing racial discrimination.

I strongly encourage you to listen to Brian Flores speak about this personally on The Limits with Jay Williams.

I am not the person to discuss sports and their nuances, however, of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States, The National Football League has, by far, the worst racial disparity ratio of players to head coaches. In 2003 the “Rooney Rule” was established in the NFL which required teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football jobs. Flores’ take on the topic is, without a doubt, correct. You cannot claim that of all the people who have come up through the coaching ranks, whether it be college or professional, not a single one of those Black candidates were qualified. And there have been Black NFL coaches. I’m not arguing that the NFL hasn’t attempted, in SOME capacities, to create more diversity in their HEAD coaching ranks.

NFL coaches

But seemingly, the standard for hiring a Black person into a head coaching position in the NFL is much higher than a white candidate. We might also, as a society, want to look at the OWNERS of these teams. There is not a single Black owner in the NFL. And I don’t just mean right now. I mean… ever… at all… in the history of the league. It seems like the only qualifying factor to being an OWNER of an NFL franchise is to have won the DNA lottery OR to have metric tons of disposable income.

NFL owners

 

So yeah! Let’s talk more about Black culture because we all LOOOOOVE football so much, right??? We can start there.

Here’s the rest of it:

If I told you I barely scratched the surface this week. You would not believe me. But goodnight. 

KLOVEYOUBYE!