Today the NFL pledged to stop using “race norming” in the $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. They also said that they would review past scores for any racial bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Race norming is bias at its worst. It assumes that Black players begin with lower cognitive functioning. Because of this, it’s harder for Black players to show a deficit and become eligible for financial awards from the settlement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last month, we wrote about the biased practice<\/a> and the lawsuit filed by Cyril V. Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith represents former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport<\/a>. Both players said they suffered from serious cognitive impairment and took tests that proved their claims. But the NFL denied their claims and both took second tests that were race normed, which made it difficult to prove they were suffering and denied them financial awards for treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in March but that didn’t stop the movement to end the discriminatory practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are deeply concerned that the Court\u2019s proposed solution is to order the very parties who created this discriminatory system to negotiate a fix,\u201d\u00a0said Smith in March<\/a>. \u201cThe class of Black former players whom we represent must have a seat at the table and a transparent process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later that month, former Washington running back Ken Jenkins, and his wife Amy Lewis, handed over 50,000 signed petitions to senior U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody in Philadelphia, who dismissed Smith’s lawsuit. The petitions called for the repeal of race norming in the NFL tests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy reaction was, \u2018Well, here we go again,\u2019\u201d said Jenkins at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s the same old nonsense for Black folks, to have to deal with some insidious, convoluted deals that are being made.\u201d<\/p>