6 years ago: The Question and The Column

September 24, 2007, here on slacktivist: The Question and The Column

This time around The Column was particularly entertaining because of the setting for this episode: Philadelphia. This is the city with a statue of Connie Mack. This is the home of the last team in the National League to integrate (after Jackie Robinson retired). This is the city that transformed Major League Baseball — free agency was created expressly because Curt Flood refused to play in what he called “the most racist town in America.” Yet last week, in dozens of examples of The Column, Philadelphia was portrayed as a colorblind, purely meritocratic utopia and a magnet for black athletes happy to be judged only on the quality of their performance. After all, Ryan Howard has already been allowed to play here nearly half as long as Richie Allen was. …

The latest round of this sad ritual ended Sunday afternoon, when McNabb played his first game of the year without a knee-brace, throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 56-21 win over the Detroit Lions. After the game, of course, he was asked The Question again, but he sidestepped it this time just like he did the Lions’ pass rush.

The Question isn’t going away. Reporters will keep asking it, seemingly unable to grasp that the very act of asking it is, itself, all the answer they should need.