The Invisible Men of the NFL.

(Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man.”

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…