AMERICA'S TEAM?

Well it's fall and the leaves are saying goodbye to their summer host. People are also asking, “Are you ready for some football?” Although for many football is a distraction from the daily hustle for the material, it's also an icon of pop culture. For example, the Dallas Cowboys have been christened, “America’s Team.” For the life of me I have no idea why, but I do question the selection. Mainly I question, why in the world does “America’s Team” have to come from the South? Given the history of the South, like its succession from the Union, Slavery, Lynching, Black Codes, Jim Crow, etc., all this has me really perplexed. Why couldn’t “America’s Team” be from a northern city like New York, Philly, or Minnesota?

If the Dallas Cowboys are a symbol of what America is about, and America chooses a symbolic team from the region of the country that has an abysmal record of patriotism, racial compassion, and "progessiveness", what does embracing that symbol tell you? (Hell, maybe if it were the Stars and Bars the question could be more easily answered by some) I know it tells me that those who truly support the Cowboys as “America’s Team” are pissed that the South lost the Civil War, Slavery ended, and they ain’t too keen on the way race relations progressed in this country.

With the above assessment, there’s something more disturbing. Why African American’s would join the cheering section for the Cowboys being “America’s Team?” I can understand that they may be from Dallas or even the South, but does that give them an excuse to ignore history? Do they place the importance of a football team's symbol above the historical struggles of their ancestors? Not being from the South, I’ll ask, is there something that was in the water when they were growing up that makes them think this way? Or even more troubling, not think about it at all?

But who am I to convince folks why America should pick a more "neutral" team as its representative? I just know this football season, as with every season since 1960, I’ll root for the Redskins to beat the Cowboys. See, I have so many reasons and no illusions why I should take that position. First, I’m from D.C. (the most northern of southern cities), second, I have Indigenous and African Blood, and third I question, why in the world would a non white person, especially one whose ancestors were enslaved, cheer on a team that symbolically represents the “colloquialisms” for the slaughter of a people for their land and belief system? All this leads me to believe we should take a hint from the falling leaves and say good-bye to the host of "America's Team," your Dallas Cowboys.