An Open Letter to ESPN"s Michael Smith On The NFL And Minority Coaches

Dear Mr. Smith, (pictured to the left)

I just read your column on the NFL (Coaching issue not simply about race) and I can't disagree with you more. I don't know how many people -- some members of the Pro Football Writers Association -- have told me that the reason why there are so many white coaches is that the general managers and owners of the teams are white, and that "Whites are comfortable with whites."

While I think this is very disturbing, what's even more troublesome to me is the complacency demonstrated by your prose in the article. For example, this statement you wrote just sent me to the moon:

Bottom line: Minorities have been issued a different dues-paying schedule. The double standard -- be twice as good, and often that isn't good enough -- is something minorities, African-Americans especially, are just burdened with.

Just burdened with.

You mean to tell me that I have to accept my lot in life? That I should not be competitive. That I should not insist on fair and equal treatment. That I should -- by my inaction -- just cause the maintance of this stupid quasi-caste system and feed the ego of every mentally-ill racist out there?

To you I write "Hell no."

If there is still such a thing as Black Self Determination -- and I believe it is -- then we as a group in America must begin to engineer ways to own corporations, and yes, even NFL Teams. I am majority owner of my company and it's 60 percent minority owned. We've grown on our own and don't have some large investor pulling our chain. We've made our revenue via our willingness to succeed and try new ideas.

I think you should not only use your ESPN-provided platform to encourage NFL teams to hire blacks, and push black coaches to network more than they may do. But you should not use your column to appologize for this caste system and tell other blacks and Latinos to just accept their lot in life.

I can imagine you giving such a speech to kids in East Oakland, here in Oakland, California. They'd laugh at you and tell your you're just afraid of "the man." Then -- lacking any encouragement from you to take on another direction -- some of them would continue to take on activities that we wish they would not do. But they're just trying to make money and they don't want to be someone's slave or second-class citizen. They're teenagers, but they do know what the problem is in society. They want to have the same freedom of choice of occupation that others have -- those who are white.

You should never send a message to anyone black that they should enjoy second-class status. Just because we're better integrated with in America and interracial interaction and marriage is the norm doesn't mean we can stop advancing. Sorry.

It's apparent to me that the next frontier of advancement in the African American community is right between our collective ears -- and exemplary in your column. We must believe we're the best, want nothing but the best, and always strive to be the best.

And most important, we must encourage each other and openly point to the need to remove the number one social roadblock to advancement -- racism, the number one mental illness in America.

You failed to do that in your article.

Please don't send a message of "accept your lot" to African Americans again. Mr. Smith, as a black man you should be ashamed of yourself. I have many friends who would read your column and ask what was wrong with you -- and they're white.

Sincerely,

Zennie Abraham