Donovan McNabb said he believes he’s judged harsher because he’s a black quarterback. It was a statement which he knew would get a loud response but he said it because that’s the way he feels.
That’s his perception which is created by his life experiences. He and his family faced some serious racist attacks when he was a youngster growing up outside of Chicago. I can understand how those experiences would affect him, as well as growing up with people telling him he can’t play quarterback because he’s black.
I don’t know how true Donovan's statements are because I can’t look into the hearts of football fans and Eagles fans to tell you how they feel. From my perspective I don’t think race is a major factor in how the fans view Donovan, but I do know there are a percentage of fans who still have a problem with him because he’s a black quarterback. I know that because I have gotten some racial emails from some of the readers of GCobb.com. I choose not to dwell on it because I don’t believe the vast majority of fans feel that way.
The question which no one can answer is what is the percentage of people with problems in the area of race? I don’t think it’s very high but I can’t say for a fact what the percentage is. In fact there’s no way one person can go on the record and speak for all the football fans in the nation or more specifically in Philadelphia area and how they feel about a black quarterback. Most people don’t even think about it, but there are some that do. I know black and white people who have trouble with the other race and it dominates their thinking.
