Praying For Herschel

Writing about Herschel Walker in The Atlantic Magazine Caroline Randall Williams the writer in residence at Vanderbilt University, relays a critical scene from Friday Night Lights.  The 2004 movie that follows the story of a Texas football team making a run toward a state championship. 

The scene takes place at a country club dinner where a team booster demands that the coach plays the team’s star running back on both offense and defense.   The concerned coach replied “I don’t want to get him hurt. We need him to score touchdowns.” The booster shot back “that big nigger ain’t gonna break if you want to win a state championship you play him on defense and offense. 

Today, Herschel Walker the Heisman Trophy winning running back from the University of Georgia is a broken man.  In a campaign he was recruited for by another broken man Walker’s lack of competence, capability, and character was exposed. 

Also exposed was what the political elite of the Republican party think about and how they value people of color. 

As black people we are still tied to each other and while Herschel Walker’s politics are not aligned with many in our community, he is still black.  His candidacy was an embarrassment.

As black people we were offended that the Republican party would think so little of us that they would promote, nominate, and vote for a candidate whose competence, capability, and character was so far off the mark of what they have claimed to be their own values.  

This is a trespass.  A trespass against the hard work, the dedication, and the devotion that people of color have always had and has always will have for America.

This is a trespass.  A trespass against the goodness of people of color who were insulted that they would use a flawed man like Herschel Walker to trick their own people to think that if they voted for a black man, they were not racist. 

This is a trespass.  A trespass against democracy because despite the victory of Raphael Warnock voter suppression is still alive and well in Georgia as our arcane runoff system and elections laws demonstrate. 

This is a trespass.  A trespass against Herschel Walker, because today the folks who used him to leave his Texas home to run for the Senate have no use for their running back now. 

In telling us how to pray Jesus in Matthew 6:14-15 says if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive people their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So today, as many celebrate Reverend Senator Warnock I am going to pray. I am going to pray for my trespasses.

I am going to pray for the trespasses of the Republican party.   And I am going to pray for Herschel Walker the football player who played on a field he had no business playing on.  And as a result, in the eyes of many is simply a nigger who has been broken.  

I am praying for Herschel.