On rare occasions, it is possible to be the culprit and the victim. And in the case of Clinton Portis and the other 14 players who allegedly defrauded millions in the NFL, it seems so.
Portis faces federal prison after pleading guilty to his role in defrauding NFL players health reimbursement account plan Gene Upshaw – a healthcare system created in 2006 to help retired players cover their medical expenses. Portis said that “voluntarily and voluntarily joined the conspiracy”To commit the fraud and has pledged to return approximately $ 100,000 he received.
The scheme included false claims and false documents that led to setbacks. In total, players were able to swindle nearly $ 4 million from the fund. To put it in perspective, Portis earned $ 43.1 million during his career. However, that was before him I lost a lot of the dirty money managers. In all, Portis, Tamarick Vanover, Robert McCune, Joe Horn, Correll Buckhalter, Carlos Rogers, James Butler, Etric Pruitt, Ceandris Brown, John Eubanks, Antwan Odom, Darrell Reid, Anthony Montgomery, Fredrick Bennett and Reche Caldwell have pleaded guilty to participate in the scheme.
Everything about black football players cheating on a health fund bearing the name of the league’s first black leader in the players ’union feels bad, and it is.
But it is not the worst sin that has been committed here.
In February, former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport filed a lawsuit accusing the league of normalizing the race to deny them compensation for the concussions they suffered while playing, as the league promised to pay close $ 1 billion to players with brain trauma in 2013, that was confirmed in 2016 by the Supreme Court after the league tried to challenge her.
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The norm of the race is Defined as: “The process of statistically adjusting the scores of minority employment applicants in job qualification tests by classifying each examiner’s score with the results of other people in their racial or ethnic group.”
Vox labeled the practice as part of the long legacy of medical racism, i Scientific American Journal he called it the “beyond slavery“.
Here is a section from Henry and Davenport plet:
If a former black player and a former white player receive exactly the same scores on a series of tests designed to measure their current cognitive functioning, the black player is assumed to have suffered less impairment and is therefore less likely to qualify for compensation. .
In May, former runner Ken Jenkins and his wife filed 50,000 petitions demanding equal treatment for black players from U.S. Senior District Judge Anita B. Brody, alleging that league payments were biased, based on career rules.
In June, the the league announced it would end racing regulations in his concussion deal with players.
“We are committed to eliminating race-based norms in the program and, more broadly, in the neuropsychological community,” the NFL said in a statement.
“I am sorry for the pain that this episode has caused to the former black players and their families. Ultimately, this deal only works if former players believe in it, and my goal is to regain their trust and ensure the NFL is fully accountable, ”said attorney Chris Seeger.
Beyond the typical racist acts that black players have suffered over the years, what has always been consistent is that the league has shown that their bodies and minds are not equally valued. From the situation of the black quarterback to the low number of black coaches and coordinators, and to the CTE cases in which race regulations were used to discriminate against men who sacrificed their brains, arms, legs and knees. to improve the league, the NFL always seems to find a way to downgrade its black players.
It is undeniable that Clinton Portis and these 14 other men broke the law. But it’s also easy to see why they did it. They wanted retribution from a league that has historically stolen men like them. And while their actions were illegal, that doesn’t mean they were wrong. Because if someone is facing a potential time in jail, it should be the suits that the NFL wears.