Heroes
[Third in a series on Diversity]
Moving from another country to the USA at the tender age of seven took some adjustments including the assimilation of my friends’ love for certain sports (we all want to fit in). Flashback with me now to 1964 Fort Lauderdale, Florida…. Picture a transplanted kid with no idea about American football. He begins by bungling his way along trying to fit into the fabric of this sports’ fanaticism amongst his new friends. The National Football League (NFL), Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Baltimore Colts, Detroit Lions, and “Da Bears” those NFL stars of yesteryear like Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr and Dick Butkus were prevalent and very real heroes to my friends. When we role-played our favorite players they knew exactly who they wanted to be. I on the other hand, had no such reference so I was mostly on the periphery during those years trying to figure out who I wanted to be.
So what saved me from being a total outcast? The Miami Dolphins! Yes, the “Magic City” Miami received an American Football League (AFL) franchise around 1966 and as a kid looking for some type of connection, well, there it finally was (I thought). I was enthralled with the team from day one; the mascot (he lived and literally frolicked in the end zone’s above ground pool for Pete’s sake), bright colors (aqua and orange – come on!), pageantry, personalities (what other team boasted a Cookie (Gilchrist) and a Wahoo (McDaniel – ex wrestler and full time Native American, respectively). Spurred on by the Dolphins, I buried myself into studying my new found love. But as fate would have it, I still suffered from minor ridicule (league envy, possibly) in those early years because all the superior-acting NFL fans (south Florida was a mecca for northeasterners in those days) made fun of the inferior league and team with logically (in their reasoning) inferior athletes. Stubbornly though I hung on to my Dolphins. Then something amazing happened….
The NFL Baltimore Colts, coached by the now Hall of Fame football coach Don Shula (a personal hero of mine later to become the Dolphins Coach and lead us to a glorious undefeated season) mightily and confidently strolled into Miami to the Orange Bowl (an arena now long ago razed and presently housing the Miami Marlin Baseball Stadium) for the third Super Bowl ever played – Colts vs. Jets. A cocky kid from Alabama was the Quarterback for the Jets and he had the audacity to predict a win for the fledgling league. “Amazing and stupid,” most people thought. The game was played on a warm, humid and cloudy Sunday. I remember my dad thinking this is not worth listening to on the radio (that’s right folks the Super Bowl was blacked out in South Florida) so we went to the movies. Upon exiting the movies you would have thought there was a revolution going on in South Florida. The whole area was abuzz! The radio blasted that an upstart QB from the AFL Jets – Joe Willie Namath had actually beaten the big nasty NFL Colts! From then on out my role playing got some respect – the AFL was a league after all! I built the Miami Dolphins into my idols, kept scrapbooks, cried and laughed with them and oh well, the rest is history. The AFL had arrived because of the New York Jets. Now the league was to be reckoned with!
So now fast forward to 2013. The Miami Dolphins in disarray! For a lifelong fan this was not good news but the worst part of it was the apparent reasons for the disarray. For those of you not followers of the sport let me quickly recap. Due to personnel problems with the players resulting from racist and intolerant remarks between players in the locker room, two major cogs in the team’s offensive line (big fellows with immature cranial development apparently) were dismissed from the team. It has been reported that the reasons for the suspensions were the repeated use of the “N” word and violent written/verbal assaults bordering on the criminal.
Procurement Professionals, as advocates of diversity, supporters of tolerance, persons always looking to co-exist in a positive professional environment, have to be shocked to see that here we have educated, relatively young men (these players are mostly aged between 22-30) disregarding any culture of sensitivities to verbally abuse each other to such a hurtful degree. Most of us want to believe that this kind of behavior is in the past. Here however, is a modern case opening up old wounds. Their actions created a warranted scrutiny as to what levels of racism and insensitivities we generally tolerate. Debate ensued. What made matters worse, in my opinion, is that these modern day heroes to so many kids created an indelible negative image in impressionable minds. How do we explain to these children that across the nation their heroes accept such bad behavior? We adults know the behavior is rooted in intolerance and insensitivity. It is therefore unacceptable that sports allowed this to creep back into its culture. Children need positive role models. Children also need strong leaders and role models.
Placing a very influential sport aside but accepting its influence and potential for creating intolerance, Procurement needs to continuously work towards increasing and reintroducing sensitivity training and active civility lessons. Let’s be universally and consistently watchful of allowing negative behavior from creeping into our profession. We must revisit and relearn what it means to be part of a true brotherhood. Even though we do not influence children except for possibly our own, it is most important that the profession embrace brotherhood/sisterhood for the sake of those fledgling professionals who we want to maintain in the public sector side of procurement. For the good of our profession and for the good of those who are still looking for a professional home we should continue to promote with awareness and actions how we address equality, diversity, and understanding amongst peers and the public we serve. Yes, we all value our heroes. The Procurement Profession is developing its own protagonists. These men and women are up and down all levels of the organizations we serve toiling for more diversity in actions, fact and spirit. Their product is found in policy, procedure and contract awards. For the sake of our profession let’s hope we never lose the men and women of the procurement profession of tomorrow over negative perceptions, lack of action, or an unchecked overtly or covertly, intentional or unintentional acceptance of our differences. Be a Diversity Hero!
Rey Palma
Happy Holidays to All!
Atlanta, 12/23/13