Deion Sanders’ recruiting philosophy perpetuates racist stereotypes — and contradicts his family structure

After still being unclear as to what his style of play is on offense and defense after three seasons at Jackson State University, Deion Sanders has now informed us on what he looks for when he’s recruiting, as he prepares to enter his first season at the University of Colorado. Unsurprisingly, his ideology is based on lazy and racist narratives and lacks creativity and open-mindedness. And according to Sanders’ thought process on the type of athletes he goes after, his own children wouldn’t be deemed worthy of consideration.

A clown can only keep his true identity disguised for so long.

“Well, we have different attributes. Smart, tough, fast, disciplined with character. Now, quarterbacks are different,” Sanders recently told Rich Eisen. “We want mother, father. Dual parent. We want that kid to be 3.5 [GPA] and up. Because he has to be smart. Not bad decisions off the field, at all. Because he has to be a leader of men.”

Let’s examine his quotes

For contextual and historical background, language like this is what kept, and still keeps, schools from recruiting Black quarterbacks — which led to many of them changing positions. Mind you, Sanders said these words during Super Bowl week, in which history was being made as Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes became the first two Black quarterbacks to ever face each other in the Super Bowl.

“Defensive linemen is totally opposite,” said Sanders as he went even deeper into his flawed and racist philosophy. “Single mama, trying to get it, he’s on free lunch,” Sanders added. “I’m talking about just trying to make it. He’s trying to rescue mama. Like mama barely made the flight. And I want him to just go get it.“It’s a whole different attribute that you look for in different positions. And we have that stuff just chronicled. We know what we want, and we go get it.”

Here’s the kicker. FOX News was one of the first outlets to pick this story up and highlight Sanders’ words. And given their history, it’s probably because they think as he does, or even they were disgusted by what he said. Last week, Dominion Voting Systems alleged that they had emails, depositions, and text messages from executives and hosts from the network that showed that they lied to their audience about voter fraud in the 2020 election due to financial motives.

A look at Deion’s personal life

But, this thing goes deeper than that, especially once you realize that Sanders has been married twice and has children by both of his ex-wives and that while he’s currently in a relationship, he’s still technically single.

How do you have a recruiting philosophy that would be biased against your own kids?

The answer to that question is that Sanders has proven that since he’s been a head coach at the collegiate level, he is more than willing to say things that “sound good,” while also having an affinity to pander to white audiences.

“I love the weather and there’s no crime…It was four weeks before I saw a police, I stopped him,” Sanders said in that same interview.”

It’s really hard to ignore what Sanders inferred here about Jackson State University and the city of Jackson, Mississippi compared to Boulder, Colorado without technically saying it. But if we’re being honest, it was another racist stereotype in which Sanders was trying to hint that the weather and crime rates were better in a place with a higher white population than it was at his last stop which was majority Black.

Just last month, Sanders’ daughter had to apologize for lying about something similar, as she claimed “that they are killings on the (Jackson State) campus every few months,” and that “they are breaking into the locker rooms and stealing from the students.” Ironically enough, on Monday, the University of Colorado Boulder police had to respond to shots that were fired at a hotel near the school’s campus.

Also, if you type “Deion Sanders arrest” into a Google search, you’ll see evidence of a man who’s a walking contradiction.

As Sanders prepares for the 2023 season, he will be presented with new challenges. One of them has already started, as he’s received complaints about praying and “engaging in religious exercises with players and staff members.” When he chose to leave Jackson State and HBCU culture behind for the Power 5 world in which the stakes are solely about winning, he stepped into an environment in which he’ll have more enemies than allies.

But, given that he banned a Black beat reporter from covering his program when he was at JSU, and now has publicly told Black folks that he recruits in a way that emphasizes racists narratives against us — it’s time that Black folks realize that being an ally for a person who participates in oppressive acts is pointless.

However, this is a man that has been an iconic figure for decades amongst Black Americans due to his persona and historic athletic skill set. And when that’s the case, you start to think that you’re Teflon. But after his latest comments, it’s time that people of all colors see Sanders for what he truly is — an opportunist that would sell out his own people, and family, for a soundbite and more time in the spotlight.