Do Racial Quotas Belong In Professional Sports?
By Trevor Bothwell (06/08/03)
We've all heard the saying, "A little goes a long way." Usually we invoke this phrase when we want to encourage someone to do something good. A simple smile can be the difference between a lost or salvaged day; giving a bag of old clothes to Good Will may be a small price for one person, but it could mean the world for someone who's fallen on hard times.
But sometimes actions that seem relatively diminutive and harmless can spin out of control and cause problems never before imagined. Such is the case with affirmative action programs, where a little bit of compassion can end up causing longstanding divisiveness. We witnessed this recently at the New York Times, as the nation's foremost newspaper was sent reeling after it was discovered that reporter Jayson Blair fabricated many of his stories. Character and quality were sacrificed in the name of political correctness and "diversity."
A similar thing may now be happening in the National Football League. In September 2002, lawyer Johnny Cochran set out to reform the NFL's hiring practices, asserting that there are not enough black head football coaches. After threatening to sue the NFL, Cochran "persuaded" league commissioner Paul Tagliabue to instill a rule that mandated any team with a coaching vacancy to interview at least one minority candidate.
Though Mr. Cochran purports that he wants to see more "minority" coaches in the NFL, and ostensibly in pro sports in general, something tells me that he won't be too concerned if we don't see an increased number of Mohawk Indian hockey coaches in Buffalo.
I discussed this very topic Wednesday evening on Philadelphia's "Lou Tilley's Sports Connection." The theme was "Minority Hirings in Sports." On the panel was Dr. Janice Madden, co-author of Cochran's study, Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities.
Dr. Madden's primary contention Wednesday night was that current and former black coaches have outperformed their white counterparts during the regular season, but that while blacks compose about 13 percent of the population, they represent only about 5 percent of all head coaches. Popular consensus had it that there needs to be more black head coaches in the NFL.
Dr. Madden, a professor at University of Pennsylvania, never implied on the show that NFL owners are intentionally discriminating against prospective black coaches, but the same cannot be said for Johnny Cochran. After all, Mr. Tagliabue caved in to Cochran's treat to sue after only three months. This is the epitome of a shakedown.
I made a point Wednesday night to commend Mr. Tilley for broaching an issue that brings to the fore a topic as delicate as racial relations. It can hardly be denied that our reluctance as a nation to discuss racial issues on the whole sets the table for people like Jesse Jackson and Johnny Cochran to go after corporations like Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and the NFL. After all, how many corporate executives want to be put on display on national television, accused of undertaking racist hiring practices?
The problem with affirmative action, and its collateral quota systems and preferential treatment of minorities, is that it works against the logic of a meritocracy. For example, if companies hire and promote based on merit alone, which they indeed should do, there will undoubtedly be unequal distributions of employees of every race. This is nowhere witnessed as well as it is in the NFL, where almost 70 percent of all players are black. Obviously, only the best players are sent onto the field, where winning is the only objective.
This is what makes Mr. Cochran's and Dr. Madden's allegation so faulty. For one, if black athletes round out almost 70 percent of every (white) owner's payroll, how can we reasonably assume that these same owners all of a sudden turn into bigots when it comes to black coaches? Moreover, if it is readily accepted as normal that blacks can comprise 70 percent of football players because they are more talented than the remaining 30 percent, why should it be unreasonable to assume that present white coaches might be more talented than black ones?
More likely, however, is the case that blacks have been spending the better part of the past fifty years merely attempting to gain equality on the playing field itself. Now that this has undoubtedly been accomplished, they are naturally beginning to move into the coaching ranks. The fact that they are not as equally represented on the sidelines is not likely due to discriminatory hiring practices as much as it is to history itself. Therefore, time, not divisive affirmative action policies, will better serve to equalize the number of black head coaches in football.
There are many reasons not to install quota systems in the workplace, and of all places in professional sports (which is arguably the purest meritocracy in the nation) where players and coaches have all worked their way to levels that the rest of us can only hope to accomplish in a dream.
True equality and racial harmony will never be realized as long as we put more emphasis on skin color than on merit.
By definition, discriminating against one preferred group means discriminating in favor of another. In the long run, what might on the surface seem to be a cordial gesture, will only breed resentment and account for even more racial divisiveness in society.
What is more, quota systems insult minorities who are proud to work and achieve equal to everyone else. Regardless of fashionable liberal rhetoric, America, more than at any other time in history, provides opportunities to everyone; the key is being willing to work for what you want, not to succumb to a culture that encourages victimization and encourages you to think you're inferior to those around you.
It would be hard to imagine Johnny Cochran walking up to Art Shell, Tony Dungy, Herman Edwards, or Ray Rhodes and insinuating that they needed a handout to compete in professional football. But what would be even more unfortunate would be to create a climate where blacks and other minorities had to question whether they were hired for their tireless effort and exceptional ability, or merely because they filled a quota that helped to fill the wallet of a hustler like Johnny Cochran.
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