Final Document: The Plight of the Black Quarterback The plight of black athletes in American sports has been a well-documented and hotly debated issue throughout society. Our treatment of these athletes was unwarranted, unfair and unacceptable, but all that seemed to have ended when pioneers like Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the early 20th century and finally brought black athletes onto the same field game of their white counterparts. . Today we proudly proclaim that our major American sports are completely free of all the stereotypes and racism that plagued them in their infancy. It is obvious that this is not true, with various examples such as the Donald Sterling incident showing that some complaints of pure racism remain, but there may also be a problem that is much more widespread than we think. A phenomenon we now call “unconscious racism” explains that in modern society we have actually internalized our racist rhetoric to the point that it is now subtle and almost second nature. This is especially clear in the National Football League in its treatment of black quarterbacks. These quarterbacks are subject to harsher and often unfair scrutiny than their white counterparts, despite their similar production, as a result of this new breed of subconscious racism. When identifying discrimination against black quarterbacks in the NFL, it is important to first see their (short and limited) history in the NFL. In 1946, the Los Angeles Rams signed running back Kenny Washington (who was teammates with Jackie Robinson on the UCLA baseball and football teams) and broke the color barrier in the NFL. (Rank, 2012) This historic occasion, which coincidentally is largely ignored in most… middle of paper… that these players behave almost identically to their white counterparts when given the chance, demonstrates that there are further discriminatory reasons behind why there are so few black quarterbacks in the NFL. These reasons lie in the modern evolution of racism known as “unconscious racism” as it is not overt, but lies in how we describe these different types of players. Calling a black quarterback “gifted” but a white quarterback “witty” is one textbook example among many of this new form of racism. Some pioneers such as James Harris, Warren Moon and Doug Williams, managed to break free from these stereotypes and find glory in the NFL, but until this unconscious racism ends and the perception of these players does not change, the black quarterback will continue to be discriminated against and held back in the modern National Football League and in society.