AMERICAN FIRST

I was watching an episode of the 100 greatest players of NFL history. I like to watch programs like that because they can be entertaining and you learn a little something about football players from teams you’ve never followed. I also thinks it’s kind of funny just how seriously they take the topic.

In this particular episode they were presenting Willie Lanier as one of the 100. I remember him - he was really great middle linebacker. Of course when he played we didn’t have ESPN or satellite TV, or any of that stuff. The only way you got to see other teams is when they played your team or on the sports segment of the local news, and on the Monday Night Football Highlights.

So I’m watching this program when I find out that Willie was the first-round draft choice of his team (that was in 1967). Willie Lanier is black, so making him the first-round draft choice was a big deal when he played. You see, he was a middle linebacker, which is the equivalent of a quarterback on the defense. You’d think that he might have been drafted by a team from NYC, Boston, LA, or San Francisco …he wasn’t. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs … they’re from Missouri.

Hanks Stram was the Head Coach of the KC Chiefs back then, in fact he was the team’s first head coach. He was an innovative and successful football coach. In a film clip from an interview he’s shown stating that they didn’t care what skin color a player was or what nationality they were. NATIONALITY? That word got my attention.

Here in lies the problem. Even way back in the 1960’s, being a first-round football draft pick meant that you’d been drafted from a US college. That meant that 99% of the time the player was a US citizen and not from some other country. I remember growing up hearing people say that they were of this nationality or that nationality (some people still say that). Someone might say that they are an Italian, or Mexican, or German, or Polish, etc. But as I grew up, I started questioning their references. Italians live in and are citizens of Italy, Mexicans live in and are citizens of Mexico, Germans live in and are citizens of Germany, and so on.

So when I heard Hank Stram say he didn’t care what nationality a player was, I had to take pause. I know what he really meant was that he did not care about the race, ethnicity, cultural back ground, or the nation of origin a players family roots came from. All he wanted were good players. I’m sure Hank knew that Willie Lanier was not a foreigner and that he is in every way a US citizen.

All I want is for us, as Americans, is for us to come together as one people. As Michael Jackson sang it “We are the World”. Americans come from every ethnic back ground, race, religion, and nationality the world has known. Our ancestors came from Europe, Africa, Asia, and all parts in between. As Americans, we have been far to willing to hyphenate our status as Americans and maintain allegiances to places that we (for the most part) have never been … and to nations that do not consider someone from the United States as a fellow countryman.

So my Italian, Mexican, German, Polish, and Black friends, repeat this after me .... I am an American. Feel free to add anything you like after the word American, just remember we are Americans first. American of Italian decent, American of Mexican decent, American of German decent …. you get the picture. As far as Black Americans go, they are no different than any other racial group within the United States … if you are American, you’re an American first. Until all of us no longer look at each other as anything other than a fellow countrymen, we will never completely be one people.

It is not the differences between us that has made us the greatest nation the world has ever known (I’ve said this before) it is our sameness that has made us great. Some would have you believe that this nation and its form of government and how we do business doesn’t work … if that is true, how did we become such a great nation? That is because that is not true. Our nation became great because of the people, our form of government, and our institutions. A strong foundation was set in place after the American Revolution that this country was constructed upon. That foundation is still structurally sound today. A course was set that has allowed us to become the freest, most prosperous nation the world has ever known, and now the time has come to get back on course. But before that can happen we must be come one.

There you have it.
Pass it on if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.

Eddie Perez
American