A Word: Rise of the Black Quarterback

Slate Books

Slate Podcasts

Arts

3.8 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are you ready for some football! After decades of being kept out of the quarterback position, more Black quarterbacks are creating success and finding stardom in the NFL. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by ESPN’s Jason Reid, author of “Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America.” They discuss how the business and politics of race have changed for football’s most sought after players, and what challenges remain for Black quarterbacks. Guest: Sports writer Jason Reid, author of “Rise of the Black Quarterback: What It Means for America” Podcast production by Yanii Evans You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate.
0:06.3	I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:08.5	It's football season and in America's most popular sport, the most important player, is arguably
0:13.6	the quarterback.
0:15.0	After decades of essentially being shut out of the role, more African-American quarterbacks
0:19.3	are shining on the field. A black quarterback had not
0:22.1	even been drafted in the first round until 1978. If you're a team owner, if you're a general
0:26.8	manager, if you're a head coach, you no longer can't ignore someone at that position because
0:31.4	of the color of her skin. The rise of the black quarterback coming up on a word with me, Jason
0:36.0	Johnson. Stay with us. Welcome to a Word, a podcast
0:41.3	about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. For football fans,
0:46.7	it's the most wonderful time of the year. We're wrapping up the NFL's preseason and we're just
0:53.2	about a week away from the teams
0:55.5	taking the field for real. And when they do, many of them will be led by black quarterbacks.
1:01.6	Just a few decades ago, African Americans rarely have the opportunity to play in that position.
1:06.9	And while great strides have been made on the field, less than a third of quarterbacks are black in a sport where 70% of the players are African Americans.
1:15.9	Joining us to talk about it is Jason Reed.
1:18.4	He's the author of the new book, Rise of the Black Quarterback, What It Means for America.
1:23.4	He's also the senior NFL writer for ESPN.
1:26.1	Jason Reed, welcome to a word.
1:28.5	Hey, thank you for having me.
1:30.2	So back in 2019, you declared that season the year of the black quarterback and said
	...

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