On January 6th, we all watched a blatantly attempted coup d’etat at the U.S. Capitol.
It was a horrifying scene, complete with a type of anger and violence we hadn’t witnessed at that scale previously.
Everyone outside of the MAGA crowd recognizes what that group attempted to do, who encouraged the crowd’s appearance and who fueled their attempted insurrection.
On Thursday evening, we’ll begin to learn even more about the event’s participants and the actions surrounding it.
But before the hearings begin, Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio felt it was necessary to share his ignorance with the world.
On Monday, he responded to a tweet about the January 6th hearings
“Would love to understand “the whole story “ about why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???”, replied Del Rio in response to a tweet about the upcoming hearings.
His response was textbook for MAGA lovers and insurrection deniers.
The only thing he was missing was a “What about Chicago?” response.
On Wednesday, Jack decided to double down and expose himself even further.
“I can look at images on the TV [of the Floyd protests] — people’s livelihoods are being destroyed. Businesses are being burned down. No problem,” said Del Rio. “And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down, and we’re going to make that a major deal. I just think it’s kind of two standards, and if we apply the same standard and we’re going to be reasonable with each other, let’s have a discussion.”
To Jack Del Rio, an attempted coup, attacking capitol police officers, trying to hang Mike Pence, stealing items from offices, defacing the Capitol and causing the death of officers is akin to a “dust-up.”
Again, the only thing missing in his MAGA-laced quip of ignorance is “What about Chicago?”
Though to be fair, he was a little closer to that excuse with Wednesday’s response.
Sarcasm aside, Jack Del Rio is an embarrassing reminder of why diversity is so important in the coaching ranks and boardrooms of the NFL.
Del Rio lent a sympathetic ear to those who would overthrow a democracy while simultaneously coaching players whose skin color would have gotten them shot if they dared to march on the Capitol.
Even worse, he coaches players whose skin color has put them on the wrong side of a policeman’s gun, knee, boot and bullet far too often.
Yet instead of focusing on the anger and pain the community finally unleashed after the murder of George Floyd, yet another victim of police brutality, he chose to diminish it by comparing it to the events of January 6th.
And they’re not comparable.
Instead of trying to understand a reality that any of his Black players could experience at any moment in America, he chose to ignore and belittle their possible plight in order to defend real criminals.
But stick to sports, right?
For those who play/ed sports, a Jack Del Rio has always existed on the field, court or ice.
You might not recognize him or her because they’re good at camouflaging it.
Yet they exist in plain sight.
Some might maintain their air of privilege when confronted while others might apologize as Del Rio attempted to do late Wednesday.
“Referencing that situation as a dust-up was irresponsible and negligent and I am sorry,” tweeted Del Rio. “I stand by my comments condemning violence in communities across the country. I say that while also expressing my support as an American citizen for peaceful protest in our country.”
His apology ended before it became sincere.
Jack Del Rio exemplifies the need for diversity in leadership positions, particularly in the NFL where Black athletes are the majority.
It’s important for all players to experience diversity.
But when Black athletes are given leaders who think like Del Rio, the ignorance outweighs any on-field leadership.
Unfortunately, this isn’t new.
We saw it with former Texans owner Bob McNair.
When players were kneeling against police brutality, McNair infamously stated “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.”
His son, Cal, followed in his footsteps by telling attendees at the Houston Texans Foundation Charity Golf Classic in May 2021, “I’m sorry that we couldn’t get together last year, because of the China Virus.”
They both apologized, but Bob McNair quickly reversed course on his apology.
“The main thing I regret is apologizing,” said McNair after his apology. “I really didn’t have anything to apologize for.”
That is why Jack Del Rio’s mindset should not be surprising. Those ways of thinking have always existed.
Just look at the incident involving Jon Gruden’s emails.
Those emails proved that NFL boardrooms and coaching ranks are infested with this pattern of thinking and behavior.
The Jack Del Rios in sports must be held accountable and so must the teams and leagues that employ them.
That is if they sincerely care about those types of things.
