Mediocre
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49. S. Grasso, “Stop Calling AOC, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib ‘Radical,’ Start Calling Everyone Else Cowards,” Splinter, February 22, 2019, https://splinternews.com/stop-calling-aoc-ilhan-omar-and-rashida-tlaib-radical-1832814428.
50. DuVernay, “Ilhan Omar Tells Ava DuVernay About the (Good) Trouble She’s Making in Congress.”
51. P. Rosenberg, “The Republican Nomination Process Is Dramatic Evidence of the Failure of Our Voting Rules. Instant Runoff Fixes It,” Salon, March 26, 2016, www.salon.com/2016/03/26/this_one_reform_defeats_donald_trump_and_saves_democracy_too_bad_the_gerrymandering_gop_never_listened_but_maybe_they_will_now/; K. Eberhard and M. Morales, “How Trump Is Winning—Even Though Most Republicans Aren’t Voting for Him,” Sightline Institute, March 7, 2016, www.sightline.org/2016/03/07/how-trump-is-winning-even-though-most-republicans-arent-voting-for-him/.
52. G. Guilford, “Maine Is Adopting a Voting System That Will Make It Easier for Third Party Candidates to Get Elected,” QZ, November 9, 2016, https://qz.com/828585/maine-is-adopting-a-voting-system-that-will-make-it-easier-for-third-party-candidates-to-get-elected/; K. Budech, “Alternative Voting Systems Can Save Democracy,” Sightline Institute, December 1, 2016, www.sightline.org/2016/12/01/alternative-voting-systems-can-save-democracy/.
7. GO FUCKING PLAY
1. D. Zirin, interview with author, April 26, 2019.
2. K. Abbott, “Score One for Roosevelt,” Smithsonian, September 20, 2011, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/score-one-for-roosevelt-83762245/.
3. Editorial Board, “Two Curable Evils,” New York Times, November 23, 1897, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1897/11/23/10 2065399.pdf.
4. Abbott, “Score One for Roosevelt.”
5. R. O. Davies, Sports in American Life: A History, 3rd ed. (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2016), 210–214.
6. K. L. Shropshire, In Black and White: Race and Sports in America (New York: NYU Press, 1996), 26.
7. “Jack Trice, ISU Football Legend,” African American Registry, accessed April 23, 2019, https://aaregistry.org/story/jack-trice-isu-football-legend/.
8. M. Steil, “The Origin of Floyd of Rosedale,” Minnesota Public Radio, November 17, 2005, http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/11/14_steilm_floydofrosedale/.
9. Davies, Sports in American Life.
10. “The Coffin Corner: Vol. 6, Nos. 11 and 12 (1984): G.P.M.: George Preston Marshall,” Pro Football Hall of Fame, accessed April 23, 2019, http://profootballresearchers.com/archives/Website_Files/Coffin_Corner/06-12-202.pdf.
11. L. M. Waggoner, “On Trial: The Washington R*dskins’ Wily Mascot: Coach William ‘Lone Star’ Dietz,” Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Spring 2013.
12. Shropshire, In Black and White, 29–31.
13. M. Goodpaster, “The Shame That Is the Washington Redskins and Daniel Snyder (The Racism of George Preston Marshall),” The Grueling Truth, March 3, 2018, https://thegruelingtruth.com/football/nfl/shame-washington-redskins-daniel-snyder-racism-george-preston-marshall/.
14. “Founder-Owner: George Preston Marshall,” website of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, accessed August 2019, www.profootballhof.com/players/george-preston-marshall/.
15. K. Briquelet, “How Mizzou Football Sacked President over Racism on Campus,” Daily Beast, November 10, 2015, www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/09/striking-mizzou-football-team-wants-president-out-over-wave-of-racism.
16. RHA Mizzou (@RHAMizzou), “We will not stay silent,” Twitter, October 29, 2015, 6:54 p.m., https://twitter.com/RHAMizzou/status/6599113 18309212161.
17. B. Trachtenberg, “The 2015 University of Missouri Protests and Their Lessons for Higher Education Policy and Administration,” SSRN, July 24, 2018, http://ssrn.com/abstract=3217199.
18. The Legion of Black Collegians (@MizzouLBC), “We are no longer taking it. It’s time to fight,” Twitter, November 7, 2015, 6:14 p.m., https://twitter.com/MizzouLBC/status/663177684428566532.
19. Coach Gary Pinkel (@GaryPinkel), “The Mizzou Family stands as one,” Twitter, November 8, 2015, 9:39 a.m., https://twitter.com/GaryPinkel/status/663410502370856960.
20. “One Year After Protest Rocked Missouri, the Effects on the Football Team and University Remain Tangible,” Sports Illustrated, November 8, 2016, www.si.com/college-football/2016/11/08/how-missouri-football-has-changed-1-year-after-boycott.
21. D. Matter, “Former MU Player Ian Simon Accepts ESPN Award,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 2016, www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/eye-on-the-tigers/former-mu-player-ian-simon-accepts-espn-award/article_3ff6a26e-aea3-58fd-b5f9-fc21ae30bb76.html.
22. “One Year After Protest Rocked Missouri.”
23. R. Felton, “Missouri Bill Aims to Strip Scholarships from College Athletes Who Refuse to Play,” Washington Post, December 14, 2015, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/14/missouri-bill-scholarships-college-athletes-protest.
24. T. Kingkade, “Missouri Lawmakers Push to Punish Mizzou Because Students Protested,” Huffington Post, February 12, 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/missouri-lawmakers-mizzou-student-protest_n_56be1eb4e4b08f fac124ff95.
25. A. Hartocollis, “Long After Protests, Students Shun the University of Missouri,” New York Times, July 9, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/us/university-of-missouri-enrollment-protests-fallout.html.
26. P. Baugh, “Athletics and Activism: Looking Back on a Historic Football Boycott,” The Maneater, October 22, 2016, www.themaneater.com/stories/sports/athletics-and-activism-looking-back-historic-footb.
27. “One Year After Protest Rocked Missouri.”
28. N. Bierman, “For Years, Trump Bashed the NFL and Players Who Protested Racial Injustice. Here’s Why He Stopped,” Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2019, www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-nfl-20190201-story.html.
29. KIRO 7 News Staff, “Seahawks Players Berated by Driver Never Staged Public Protests During National Anthem,” KIRO 7 News, March 12, 2018, www.kiro7.com/news/local/seahawks-players-berated-by-driver-never-staged-public-protests-during-national-anthem/714923210.
30. J. Trotter and J. Reid, “Irreconcilable Differences: Why the Players Coalition Split Apart,” The Undefeated, February 2, 2018, https://theundefeated.com/features/irreconcilable-differences-why-the-nfl-players-coalition-split-apart/.
31. R. Lapchick, B. Ekiyor, and H. Ruiz, “The 2006 Racial and Gender Report Card: The National Football League,” September 26, 2007, https://43530132-36e9-4f52-811a-182c7a91933b.filesusr.com/ugd/7d86e5_7232193e48f64e90af2cdf09e65a8a94.pdf.
32. S. Wyche, “Colin Kaepernick Explains Why He Sat During National Anthem,” website of the NFL, August 27, 2016, www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000691077/article/colin-kaepernick-explains-protest-of-national-anthem.
33. I. Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race (New York: Seal Press, 2018).
34. P. Holloway, “Colin Kaepernick Warned Players Who Kneeled with Him They May Not Work Again,” Niners Nation, February 20, 2019, www.ninersnation.com/2019/2/20/18232588/colin-kaepernick-settlement-kneeling-players-michael-wilhoite.
35. V. Mather, “A Timeline of Colin Kaepernick vs. the N.F.L.,” New York Times, February 15, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/15/sports/nfl-colin-kaepernick-protests-timeline.html.
36. B. Lacina, “Since the NFL Anthem Protests, White Fans Like the White Players More—and the Black Ones Less,” Washington Post, January 19, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2019/01/19/happy-nfl-playoffs-since-the-anthem-protests-white-football-fans-like-white-players-more-and-black-ones-less/?utm_term=.be8d18623bff.
37. M. Bennett, interview with author, June 30, 2019.
38. Media Matters Staff, “Sean Hannity Speculates That Kaepernick Protested National Anthem Because ‘He Might Have Converted to Islam,’” Media Matters, August 29, 2016, www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-speculates-kaepernick-protested-national-anthem-because-he-might-have.
39. Media Matters Staff, “Rush Limbaugh: NFL Protests Are a Leftist Plot ‘to Cause Great Damage to the
NFL’ Because It Stands for ‘Masculinity,’” Media Matters, September 28, 2017, www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/rush-limbaugh-nfl-protests-are-leftist-plot-cause-great-damage-nfl-because-it-stands.
40. T. Gabriel, “Before Trump, Steve King Set the Agenda for the Wall and Anti-Immigrant Politics,” New York Times, January 10, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/10/us/politics/steve-king-trump-immigration-wall.html; J. Yomtov, “GOP Rep. Steve King on Kaepernick: ‘This Is Activism That’s Sympathetic to ISIS,’” USA Today, September 15, 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/09/15/steve-king-colin-kaepernick-activism-sympathetic-to-isis/90399954/.
41. E. Rosenberg, “‘You Can’t Win This One,’ Donald Trump Told NFL Owners About Anthem Protests. They Believed Him,” Chicago Tribune, May 30, 2018, www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-trump-nfl-anthem-protests-20180530-story.html.
42. A. Parker, “How Trump Has Attempted to Recast His Response to Charlottesville,” Washington Post, May 7, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-trump-has-attempted-to-recast-his-response-to-charlottesville/2019/05/06/8c4b7fc2-6b80-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html?utm_term=.dda383279216.
43. M. Bennett and D. Zirin, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2018), 15.
44. Bennett and Zirin, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, 16–17.
45. C. Boren, “‘Terrified and Confused’: Seahawks’ Michael Bennett Tells of Traumatic Police Encounter,” Washington Post, September 7, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/09/06/im-going-to-die-for-no-other-reason-than-i-am-black-michael-bennett-tells-of-police-encounter/?utm_term=.44f66fd34bff.
46. M. Bennett (@mosesbread72), “Equality,” Twitter, September 17, 2017, 7:01 a.m., https://twitter.com/mosesbread72/status/90543070159565 2096.
47. K. Spain, “Las Vegas Police: ‘No Evidence’ Race Played Role in Michael Bennett Incident,” KHOU, September 7, 2017, www.khou.com/article/news/las-vegas-police-no-evidence-race-played-role-in-michael-bennett-incident/285-471794348.
48. Boren, “‘Terrified and Confused.’”
49. D. Barron, “Charges Against Michael Bennett Dropped Because of Insufficient Evidence,” Houston Chronicle, April 3, 2019, www.houston chronicle.com/sports/texans/article/Charges-against-Michael-Bennett-dropped-because-13739414.php.
50. J. Breech, “Eagles’ Michael Bennett Indicted on Felony Charge, Has Warrant Out for Arrest,” CBS Sports, March 23, 2018, www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/eagles-michael-bennett-indicted-on-felony-charge-has-warrant-out-for-arrest/.
51. A. Willingham, “While You Were Arguing About the Anthem, Colin Kaepernick Just Finished Donating $1 Million,” CNN, January 31, 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/01/31/sport/colin-kaepernick-million-dollar-donation-pledge-anthem-nfl-trnd/index.html.
52. D. Rapaport, “Kaepernick Vows to Continue Combating Racial Injustice ‘With or Without the NFL,’” Sports Illustrated, December 5, 2017, www.si.com/nfl/2017/12/06/colin-kaepernick-sports-illustrated-muhammad-ali-award-acceptance-speech.
53. Letter, E. Dickerson, Chairman, Hall of Fame Board, et al. to R. Goodell et al., n.d. (2018), reproduced on the website of ESPN, accessed May 2020, http://a.espncdn.com/pdf/2018/0918/HOFLetter.pdf.
54. D. A. Gilbert, “The Gridiron and the Gray Flannel Suit: NFL Football and the Modern U.S. Workplace,” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 42, no. 2 (2018): 132–148.
CONCLUSION
1. N. Bogel-Burroughs, “‘I’m the Shooter’: El Paso Suspect Confessed to Targeting Mexicans, Police Say,” New York Times, August 9, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/us/el-paso-suspect-confession.html.
2. C. Quigley, email correspondence with author, August 3, 2019.
3. “Commonwealth v. Bechtel,” February 6, 1956, reproduced on Justia.com, accessed June 2020, https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/supreme-court/1956/384-pa-184-0.html.
4. “Professor Shares Story of His 1955 Murder Case,” Arizona Daily Sun, November 19, 2004, https://azdailysun.com/professor-shares-story-of-his-murder-case/article_cf711db1-2fce-5b93-a9bb-da64ae513b57.html.
5. S. Rodrick, “All-American Despair,” Rolling Stone, May 30, 2019, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/suicide-rate-america-white-men-841576/.
6. W. Cai and J. K. Patel, “A Half-Century of School Shootings like Columbine, Sandy Hook and Parkland,” New York Times, May 11, 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/11/us/school-shootings-united-states.html.
7. D. Byman, “Right-Wingers Are America’s Deadliest Terrorists,” Slate, August 5, 2019, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/right-wing-terrorist-killings-government-focus-jihadis-islamic-radicalism.html.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the author
Ijeoma Oluo is the author of the New York Times bestseller So You Want to Talk About Race. Her work on race has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post. She has twice been named to the Root 100, and she received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington.
ALSO BY IJEOMA OLUO
So You Want to Talk About Race
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR MEDIOCRE
“Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race has been one of the most recommended books during the ongoing racial justice movement. Her new offering is a nuanced analysis of white male America—and how white supremacy has affected politics, football, and more. Oluo deftly combines history and sociological study with personal narrative, and the result is both uncomfortable and illuminating.”
—Washington Post
“Ijeoma Oluo’s sharp yet accessible writing about the American racial landscape made her 2018 book, So You Want to Talk About Race, an invaluable resource for anyone looking to understand and dismantle racist structures. Her new book, Mediocre, builds on this exemplary work, homing in on the role of white patriarchy in creating and upholding a system built to disenfranchise anyone who isn’t a white male.”
—TIME
“Ijeoma’s revelatory and visionary new book confronts disturbing hidden histories that vibrate throughout our institutions and communities today. The connections and insights in Mediocre make it an essential read.”
—Austin Channing Brown, New York Times–bestselling author of I’m Still Here
“There is no one more adept at parsing the toxic effects of white male privilege and systemic oppression than the immensely talented Ijeoma Oluo. Her brilliant book is a master class in understanding how systems of domination working relentlessly in the service of white male patriarchy not only harm all women and people of color, but ultimately hinder white men themselves from reaching greatness.”
—Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times–bestselling author of Long Time Coming
“Simply put, Mediocre is required reading and I’m not-so-secretly envious of every person who gets to read this intelligent, well-written, and engrossing book for the first time. Oluo is one of our great voices and her writing not only educates us, moves us to be more compassionate and analytical about our roles in society, but it inspires us to act and change the world for the better. But first, I need to read this book again. It’s just that damn good.”
—Phoebe Robinson, New York Times–bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair
“Ripped, tragically, from yet another and another and another set of headlines, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America breaks ground and forces a bold, startling, and necessary conversation about the implications of institutional supremacy, and its crushing impact on people of color and women.”
—Patrisse Khan Cullors, cofounder, Black Lives Matter, New York Times–bestselling author of When They Call You a Terrorist, and joint recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize
“Oluo masterfully maps and diagnoses the pervasive plague of white mediocrity as a long-standing yet substandard model for American success. Mediocre brilliantly serves as a pressing call to action for every person, regardless of race or gender, to examine one’s relationship with white male mediocrity, to understand its
harmful effects, and to actively resist its hold.”
—Kimberlé Crenshaw, executive director, African American Policy Forum, and professor, UCLA and Columbia Law Schools
“With Mediocre, Ijeoma Oluo gives us another book of profound and important truth in service of liberation. Her skillful, straightforward, and accessible writing style cuts to the heart of white male supremacy and holds it up for us to reckon with. With a deep love for humanity, she shows us how the legacy and current ubiquitousness of this system is life-destroying for people of color and even for white men ourselves.”
—Matt McGorry, actor, How To Get Away With Murder and Orange is the New Black, activist, and cofounder of Inspire Justice
“In her illuminating new book, Ijeoma Oluo unpacks how ‘mediocrity’ is a privilege created and perpetuated by our obsession with white male superiority. Oluo deftly balances the cultural history of white western male mythmaking with contemporary cultural criticism of the aggrieved white American man. It is a deft and thought-provoking book that contextualizes public discourse on race, class, and gender in America.”
—Tressie Mcmillan Cottom, author of the National Book Award finalist Thick
“Once again, Ijeoma Oluo uses her elegant voice to speak directly to the root issues at the core of the United States’ seeming inability to reconcile who we have been with who we had hoped to be. This book goes beyond how we got here, and digs into where we are, what we’re going to do about it, and what’s at stake if the people with the most power refuse to do better.”
—Ashley C. Ford, writer
“Mediocre is urgent, powerful, and laced with an acidity that forces us to contend with our own complicity in a culture that systematically oppresses women, people of color, and especially, women of color. America is a nation that aspires to greatness but refuses to acknowledge how its laws and conventions instead protect white male mediocrity. Both So You Want to Talk About Race and Mediocre are necessary reads, because few writers are as vital to understanding our present moment as Oluo.”