My wife, bless her Cajun heart, is from Louisiana. Unfortunately, though,  she doesn't like Mardi Gras. This is because as a young child she had a horrible experience while visiting New Orleans to witness a Mardi Grass parade. People are shaped by their life experiences, and it doesn't matter how old you are. If you are old enough to remember, it can effect on how you view the world and things around you. 

If you have been following the Jerry Jones story, you know where I am going with this.

I am going to put my cards on the table and state up front that it's easy for me to dislike Jerry Jones. He is, after all, the owner of the team that I hate most of all the professional sports teams in the world: the Dallas calfboys. But this isn't about his ownership and his handling of the team. It's about who he is as a human being, and what he has done with his life since being a fourteen year old teenager with a front row seat to one of the most ugly chapters in America's history. An event that was certainly part of the zeitgeist of the time.  

I have heard all the excuses. He was only a young teenager. It was over sixty five five years ago. Look how many black people he employees. His team has a black quarterback, and on and on. People (black and white) will continue to make excuses for Jerry Jones, because he is a billionaire with influence.  But take the time to read the Washington Post article that featured the picture, and you will see that Jerry is a man who was shaped by his upbringing, and not in a good way. 

LeBron James called out the American press yesterday for ignoring the story, and I am glad that he did. Maybe it will get us talking about it again. And maybe someone will try to ask Jerry Jones, once again, what he was thinking when he was witnessing that ugly scene in Arkansas. His canned answer about just being "curios" isn't going to cut it. He had a chance to speak about how horrible of a time that was and how ugly and and abhorrent racism is, but he chose not to. This is the guy who told his players that they better not kneel with Colin Kaepernick. And he is the same guy who has never, in his thirty three years as owner, hired a black head coach, and who has had only two (count em, two) offensive or defensive coordinators who were black. since he owned the team. 

I would like to thank LeBron for putting this story back into the limelight. It will die down again soon, but at least, for now, we can take another look at Jerry's World and see the ugliness that's lurking right below the surface. 

Go Eagles!!