rooting for the seahawks

read this excellent super bowl preview about the seattle seahawks and richard sherman, who “rose from a childhood in Compton, to earning a Stanford degree, to rising to be the best at his position in a professional sport.”

As James Baldwin writes of the American dream, “If people are denied participation in it, by their very presence they will wreck it.” You do not have to like Richard Sherman or even be a Seahawks fan to recognize what the NFL is doing when it fines or admonishes him in his moments of pride. Richard Sherman is significant because, like all things once considered “abnormal” that have or will become normal, he represents more than what he portrays. Richard knows as well as anyone, because of the uniqueness of his trajectory, he is not the American dream – that’s a ways off, and the divisive reaction to his statements helps reveal the heartbreaking distance. …

For now, whether you love his discourse or hate it, recognize who the man is, what he means, and what it means for him to be here.