Racial Bias and the Black Quarterback
Lamar Jackson, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens star, has been one of the league's best players for the last five years. In Jackson's MVP season, he set the season record for quarterback rushing yards while simultaneously leading the league in touchdown passes, bringing the Ravens to the top seed in the AFC. Although he became just the second unanimous MVP in NFL History that season, you wouldn't believe any of that if his ongoing contract "war" with Baltimore was your first time hearing of him. The racial stigma in sports when it comes to black athletes has been a long-winded discussion full of so many layers, with the politics of everything being at the forefront. Lamar Jackson, who from 2018-2022 was still on his rookie contract, earning $9M a year, was looking for a necessary boost in salary once that contract was over. Still, after seeing the field and how quarterbacks who have done far less than him have earned massive paydays, he wants to be the second-high...