Dear NFL Commissioner Goodell

Commissioner Roger Goodell

National Football League

345 Park Avenue

New York, New York 10154

Dear Mr. Goodell:

In the movie, Disclosure, the film’s protagonist, played by Michael Douglas, finds himself in hot water in his computer tech firm after being coerced into a sexual liaison by his boss, played by Demi Moore. After he breaks off the affair, Moore seeks revenge for her jilting by attempting to set Douglas up for the fall for a glitch in the software. Throughout the movie, Michael Douglas receives cryptic messages from an unknown source telling him to stop focusing on his conflict with Moore and “solve the problem.”

Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid saw a problem in Black America that needed solving. Black people getting abused, brutalized, and even killed by law enforcement officers supposedly sworn to protect them. These, and a myriad of other racial injustices in our national headlines, prompted these champions of justice to call attention to these problems by kneeling during the National Anthem at the start of their National Football League games. But instead of addressing the problem, various factions within the NFL, the media, some fans, and especially our Executive Branch of government chose instead to ignore the grievances raised and do battle with the protesters duly exercising their constitutional rights in the name of justice. To exacerbate the matter, NFL owners recently chose to "resolve" the matter by compelling all players to stand at the playing of the National Anthem before every game. Resolving the matter, Mr. Goodell, was exactly what this decision did not do; instead, it has rekindled the passion of the player/protesters and their supporters as well as those men’s detractors. The protracted nature of this protest has now moved being an NFL spectator from a national pastime to a political statement and an emerging, if not inaccurate, measure of one’s patriotism, “wokeness”, and commitment to the cause of justice and/or social order. This is not good for the NFL. People watch sporting events to escape politics, not to engage it. And yet here we are, poised to play “National Anthem Tug Of War” for the entirety of the 2018 football season. Unfortunately, this is a game with no winners. My humble advice is that when you are invited to play a game with no winners, it is time to change the game. In this case, it is time to play a new game called, “Solve The Problem.”

People approach the NFL all the time to contribute to solutions to problems. Whether it is sick children, breast cancer, flooding in New Orleans and Houston, or other local challenges or challenged individuals, the NFL and its players regularly heed the call and contribute solutions to our communities’ problems. How much more so then should it contribute when one of its star players identifies a systemic problem in need of addressing. To that end, I would humbly propose that the NFL undertake the following programmatic efforts:

1. Foster dialogue and understanding. The NFL should initiate a formal project in every city in which it operates to bring local law enforcement into dialogue with active and retired NFL players so that each group can share their experiences as officers and citizens involving real and perceived police brutality. Some players are already doing this on their own. Officers could meet with players at team sponsored conferences in the nation’s stadiums. Players could visit local precincts to meet, educate, and inform officers about how police racism has negatively impacted their lives and the lives of the people in their communities. They should issue periodic reports on progress.

2. Start a law enforcement career track for former players. All football players retire eventually, and not all are suited for careers in the broadcast booth, entertainment, coaching, or other high-profile careers. No doubt some are interested in careers in law enforcement following football and some would make outstanding officers. Such a program would be a unique but effective way to marry the NFL’s goals of community outreach with law enforcement goals of community policing and help give young, retiring athletes a specified post-football goal.

3. Combat urban joblessness and promote skilled employment in at-risk communities. Every NFL team should start or support a trade school in their city. They should grant scholarships out of high school to interested and worthy applicants and they should reserve a select number of enrollment spots for ex-convicts who are attempting to reintegrate themselves into society.

4. Put muscle into community outreach. Community outreach and community social action should be another post-professional career track for football players. Players should be encouraged and given guidance in careers in social work, urban planning, urban finance, etc. Community Affairs departments for the the league's teams should undertake one to two year projects to address a particular need of their fan base community. In Los Angeles, the project may be combatting homelessness. In Houston, it may be follow up support in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. In Kansas City, it may be a comprehensive program to combat drug abuse in the Missouri Ozarks. Whatever the cause, it should be undertaken with vigor, compassion, and with sufficient resources for success.

5. Every NFL city should have a homeless shelter and facility that it sponsors and supports financially. The NFL could approach their cities to cede land or facilities for homeless housing that a subsidiary NFL organization would build or support, and advertising partners such as Marriott could manage them with drug treatment, job placement, and urban health facilities contained within its walls.

6. End the exploitation of female cheerleaders. Cheerleaders need to be paid a respectable wage for their time, talent, and effort and not treated as slave-wage human chattel. The league and its teams generate sufficient revenue to do so.

7. Purpose the league to foster minority owners. The NFL should set a goal for at least three minority-owned teams in the next 10 years. At least one of these teams should be owned by a minority female.

8. Get Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid on the field again. The league should hold a draft, except instead of drafting the player, the league should draft a team for them to play on by lottery. Teams that have genuine interest should be allowed to add up to two addition “lots” to draw from the “hat.” Such a system will help to insulate any team that takes them from accusations of being “unpatriotic” for employing them. I am confident that once they get back in the league and this conflict quiets down, they can be traded to whatever team could best utilize their talents, but right now, justice demands that they be back in the NFL.

People in America are facing serious challenges – racism, drug abuse, gangs, homelessness, family dislocation, lack of access to health care. The list goes on. The NFL cannot solve all of these problems, but as an influential and wealthy institution they can help contribute to those solutions with their financial resources and the tremendous pool of educated and energetic young men they put on our nation’s football fields every fall Sunday. The NFL should end this war of wills with their black and “woke” players and begin to heal your institution and our nation by rescinding its recently adopted rules of compulsory patriotism and by doing its best to be true American problem solvers. That will be cause that all of us can stand and sing the National Anthem for – including Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid.

Respectfully Submitted,

Darryl L. Fortson, M.D.

Las Vegas, Nevada