The Anti-Patriots Fan
An “Unwise & Untimely” Response
To be from New England and to NOT be a New England Patriots fan is often a shock to most sports fanatics. To make matters worse, I moved to Los Angeles a couple years ago for graduate school, so the hype of Superbowl Sunday is all around me. When I encounter confused faces to my anti-Pats identity, I remind everyone of 2 things:
(1) I am a woman of color and,
(2) my family isn’t from this country.
Why do these facts matter? Because it took 30 years of growing up in Massachusetts and moving across the country to be able to say that I am anti-Pats. Prior to learning about CTE, Kap, and the flurry of deflategate tensions — I was a Pats fan. Growing up in the suburbs of Boston, watching Pats games became a part of our family traditions.
It was hard enough as a woman of color with Trinidadian roots to ever feel like I belonged in White, male-dominated spaces. Even as a young professional in Boston, the ability to throw back a couple beers and show your allegiance to the Sox and the Pats were important parts of everyday life. If you were a Boston-sports fan in Boston-sports gear, it was one less reason for people to ask “no, where are you really from?” when you answered ‘Boston’ the first time around.
So yea, I became one of the people who denied the cheating allegations. Said it was jealousy because of all of the championship rings. Bought into the ‘forever the underdog’ story. I was a part of #PatsNation and proud of it.
It is day 2 of Black History month, so I’m going to say what I need to say. Those who choose to remain Pats fans today following #BLM activism, the white supremacy of the Trump presidency, and most recently Black artists refusing to perform for the half-time show, exemplify today’s ‘white moderate’ that MLK cautioned against 56 years ago. In his own words, “Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”
We all struggle to stay true to our ethics while balancing the music, movies, and television we enjoy, and #MuteRKelly is just one of many recent examples. And this weekend, choosing to support the Patriots is next on the chopping block. Over the last few years, it has been too easy for the white moderate to isolate the Pats from politics. Similarly, for Pats fans of color who may have started off just trying to fit in and have developed deep allegiances to this team over time — take a moment to reflect on what your support means. Critiquing the Patriots is not “creating tension,” it is just bringing the truths of their rise to power into the light. This is the work of Colin Kaepernick and other advocates for social justice in entertainment spaces.
To those who are thinking, “it’s just sports,” I encourage you to think about our history and its influence on today. Remember people like Muhammad Ali who chose to make a political stand and lost his career and accomplishments at the time of his decision. Remember the real impact of diseases like CTE damaging Black men’s bodies. Remember that there is an entire league where the positions of power are held by white men as owners, coaches, and quarterbacks.
Maybe the ‘we’ in “we’re still here” doesn’t include you, and maybe it never will.
