We all knew race-normed tests were racist and hampered the ability of Black former NFL players to get the help they desperately needed.
Now proof is on view for all to see.
Late last week, more than 300 Black former NFL players initially denied financial awards from the league’s concussion settlement finally qualified for money or league funded medical treatment after race norming in tests was eliminated.
“Race-norming” assumes that Black people start at a lower cognitive functioning level than white people. So when players have to demonstrate the effects of concussions, it’s harder for Black players to show a deficit because they begin from a lower starting point.
This process was used by the NFL to determine who qualified for monetary awards geared toward treating health ailments plaguing these former players.
Cyril V. Smith, an attorney representing former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, filed a lawsuit in 2020 to have the practice eliminated, and that’s when the public first learned of the biased tests.
A year later, the NFL agreed to stop using race normed testing, but it couldn’t be removed from the settlement until federal court judge Anita Brody approved it, which she did in March of 2022.
Now, according to the report filed in federal court by the law firm that handles claims for the NFL, 646 Black former players had their test results rescored under the new system.
61 of them qualified for new or increased settlement payments.
246 players qualified for pre-dementia diagnosis, which means they will be covered by the NFL.
The financial awards range from $25,000 to over $5 million depending on variables such as age and playing experience.
“Our work has produced some great results and has opened many eyes,” said Ken Jenkins, a former Washington player who, along with his wife, Amy Lewis, helped fight to bring change to the settlement. “Now we’re really focused on getting as many players who deserve compensation to be compensated.”
While this is a great start, this is far from over for the men who have suffered for years.
More than 2,400 players whose initial claims were judged through race-normed tests can go now go through the process again. Hundreds of others were in the process of being evaluated when the changes were instituted.
The NFL never admitted any wrongdoing when agreeing to the settlement, but they certainly added insult to injury for Black players by subjecting them to race-normed tests.
While some are still around to receive treatment, we have lost others like Vincent Jackson, Junior Seau and David Duerson who tragically suffered in silence until they took their own lives.
If the league hadn’t made Black former players work so much harder to prove they were suffering, maybe the horrific events surrounding the death of men like Phillip Adams could have been prevented.
But support is coming now.
“Men who are homeless, men who originally signed up but their cognitive function changed, men who are divorced or isolated — we are going to go looking for them,” said Lewis.
Let’s hope that these new tests and awards can help prevent the next Phillip Adams from happening, and bring these players and their families the help they all need and deserve.
