Former ESPN host Jemele Hill is making her opinion known after an old photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has surfaced. In the image, Jones is seen among a White mob trying to prevent Black students from integrating into an Arkansas high school. The Washington Post broke the story.
“Guessing Jerry Jones isn’t the only NFL owner who has something like this in his past. The wild part is the expectation that Black people are just supposed to naively trust that white people who were once eager participants in the dark parts of history magically have evolved,” Hill tweeted about the image.
In the past, Jones admitted that he was present at the incident but did not participate in the event. He told the Washington Post that he was there out of curiosity, and not because he agreed with what the event was about.
“I don’t know that I or anybody anticipated or had a background of knowing … what was involved. It was more a curious thing,” he said. His interview with the Post was to participate in a historical documentation the publication was producing.
Sports analysts also note that Jones has never hired a Black coach in the 33 years he has owned the Cowboys.
The NFL executive has been in the limelight in the past specifically as it related to social justice issues in the NFL.
Initially, he knelt with players at the height of the Colin Kaepernick controversy during the national anthem to show support of the former 49ers quarterback, but he later reneged on his actions and supported players who didn’t kneel because he thought kneeling “disrespected the flag.”
In a 2013 video that surfaced in 2017, Jones was recorded saying “Jennifer, congratulations on the wedding. Now, you know he’s with a black girl tonight, don’t you?” He made the remarks after a woman named Jennifer recently got engaged to a player on his team.
He has since apologized for his remarks. “That comment was inappropriate,” Jones told the Star-Telegram. “It’s not who I am, and I’m sorry.”
