The Racialized Response to Richard Sherman

The Racialized Response to Richard Sherman

The Racialized Response to Richard Sherman

On last night's episode of All in With Chris Hayes, the guests criticized the racialized response to the Seattle Seahawks cornerback's animated post-game interview. 

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

After making a career-defining play that sent his team to the Superbowl, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman launched into a spirited on-camera rant against ‘49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The clip has since gone viral, and Chris Hayes spoke with Nation writer Dave Zirin, commentator Tara Dowdell and former-NFL player Roman Oben about the racialized response to Sherman’s diatribe. As Zirin pointed out, “It’s a racial Rorschach test by so many in politics who want free speech and want people to be passionate, but only certain people.”
—Allegra Kirkland

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x