The Invisible Men of the NFL.
When I saw the young, lithe, black Buffalo Bills’ athlete Damar Hamlin collapse on an NFL football field in Cincinnati this week, after being hit hard in the chest, I could not stop staring at the constant playback loop of Hamlin’s crumbling to the ground . My mind had witnessed this horror before.
I struggled to place it. Then, one of the most powerful pieces of writing I’ve ever encountered marched into my mind.
The brutal hit which stopped Hamlin’s heart reminded me of the chilling opening chapter of Ralph Ellison’s remarkable book “Invisible Man.” (Random House, NY, N.Y., 1952.)
In the riveting, cinematic descriptions which thrust readers head-first into his National Book Award winning work, Ellison chillingly depicted how wealthy White people looked right through young, athletic Black men, and saw only what they wanted to see, for whatever purpose they found gratifying or entertaining.
Again, I watched the replay of Hamlin falling backwards on a football field named Paycor — for a company that manages “human capital” — and thought of Ellison’s eloquent account, told through the eyes of a young, bright Black man invited into an elite gathering of southern, white, community leaders.
Ellison’s educated main Black character had earned a college scholarship, and to receive it, he was told by…
