The new coach of the New England Patriots is already in the news, but not to succeed Bill Belichick as the team's head coach.
The Patriots' first black head coach, Jerod Mayo, wasted no time addressing race in his first news conference with team owner Robert Kraft sitting next to him.
“I see color,” Mayo responded to a reporter's question in Foxborough, Mass., on Wednesday.
“Because I think if you don't see color, you can't see racism. And no matter what (black, white, even someone with a disability) for the most part, people say, “No.” When they're young, they kind of heat up the place,” he said.
“I see color, because I think if you don't see color you can't see racism.”
Jerod Mayo on being named the first black head coach in Patriots history. pic.twitter.com/toTTJ6CrB3
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 17, 2024
“But what I would say is, no, I want you to be able to get close to these people, to really understand these people,” Mayo added. “So this goes back to whatever — black, white, yellow — it doesn't really matter, but it does matter so that we can try to fix a problem that we all know we have.”
Team owner Kraft was asked about the new coach.
“Let me tell you this: I'm very colorblind in terms of how I feel on Sunday when we lose, and I can only tell you that after my family, my passion is the New England Patriots, and there's something else (is a) very close second, but winning at the Patriots is my passion,” he said in a press conference.
“I want to get the best people I can get. I picked the best coach for this organization. It happens to be a man of color. But I picked him because I think he's the best to do the job,” Kraft added.
Mayo's remarks quickly went viral on social media.
“Jerod Mayo is the first black head coach in the [Patriots] and he doesn't shy away from that or any issue about race in our country,” former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III. he wrote to X. “He's not afraid to say it with his chest. He's down to business.”
Other responses were mixed with many singing Mayo's praises while others criticized the emphasis on her race.
The country is so racist that he gets to be the head coach of the Patriots. lol What does it pay you? Man, shut up. That's why I stopped watching football.
— HOCKEY MOM (@jeepgirl9272) January 17, 2024
I mean, he knows that's just a saying, right? Everyone sees color. It means you judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. The opposite of what he is doing.
— The Dank Knight (@capeandcowell) January 17, 2024
He should be fired immediately.
Americans play their team, no need to divide them into other categories.
— Randy Willits (@RandyWillits) January 17, 2024
That sounds pretty racist to me.
Reverse racism = racism
— Anthony Hughes (@CallMeAntwan) January 17, 2024
The New England Patriots will now make DEI their priority over winning.
How nice.
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) January 17, 2024
He has already shared more personal politics in 1 day than Belichick has in 24 years
— Patrick Butler (@PatrickButler00) January 17, 2024
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