The Super Bowl will be televised, by Marvin Wade

The year was 2019. I was incarcerated at the Fishkill Correctional Facility in Fishkill, New York. It was a Friday morning, February 1st as I sat on my bed preparing paperwork for my upcoming parole hearing in August. My dorm room that I shared with another prisoner was situated right in front of the day room where the tv was located. I could hear the commotion going on beyond my closed door as I sat arranging some papers. Setting my papers aside on my bed, I got up to see what was happening. As I opened the door the yelling and screaming immediately engulfed me. I stood by my door to assess the situation before walking into it. This is a must in surviving in prison.

After a few seconds I was able to assess that it was just a friendly debate about whether or not the rapper Travis Scott should perform at this year's Super Bowl. Most everyone in the group except for a couple of brothers were expressing that he shouldn't. I had been so involved in my parole preparation that morning that it slipped my mind that it was the beginning of Super Bowl weekend. I love football. The first game I ever watched was the Super Bowl. It was 1981 and the game featured the Raiders against the Eagles. I was immediately hooked. But I was a child back then. I watched the game without a worry or concern of the world. Unlike today.

"Oh boy," I said smiling to myself as Rob approached me from out of the group discussion asking me to weigh in with my opinion. Never one to shy away from a good debate. And this was such. I had took some time during the week to really think about this Travis Scott argument. It was a subject being talked about in all the news and talk shows throughout the week leading up to Super Bowl weekend. The hip hop and Black community was asking Travis Scott to boycott the Super Bowl by not performing during half time in a show of support to Colin Kaepernick who had been blackballed out of the league for the last three years for his Stance (kneeling) during the national anthem over Black oppression and police brutality.

"So Marv, what you think?" asked Rob.   With Rob and the now silent crowd of about ten people listening intently to my answer, including the correction officer that worked the housing unit of 25 prisoners, I said, "I believe personally he should perform at the Super Bowl. Because if we are going to ask that Travis Scott not perform at the Super Bowl in a show of support for Kaepernick, we should then ask of ourselves in a show of support to him and Kaepernick not watch the game. And if our choice is not to protest, then how can we or should we ask of that from him. Any one willing to watch anything other than the Super Bowl Sunday night?"  I asked. Almost Immediately after the words left my mouth all I heard from the collective group was, "Ahhhhhh man." With someone yelling out "Why you even ask him!" Rob looked at me with his face twisted up and said, "You fucking bugging," and this was the beginning of a heated debate that lasted up until Sunday morning.

Throughout the weekend everyone made their case. The argument from most Brothers was that, if Travis Scott were not to attend or perform in protest it would not only send a clear and loud message to the NFL about their future partnership with Black entertainers. It would also help to shed even more light on the plight of the Black family across this Country. True and strong arguments. I pretty much made my arguments throughout the weekend as such: I love football. But I love my Brothers and Sisters in the struggle even more. I was conflicted. When Travis Scott was first named as a performer I voiced loud and proud that he shouldn't perform. But as time went on and the Super Bowl inched closer it allowed for me the space to really think about this opinion of mine. And I realized that I was asking of Travis Scott, what a lot of us in the Black community ask of others but not of ourselves...Sacrifice.

Here we are asking of this man to give up doing what he loved doing which is rap. And oh by the way it's also how he earns a living. But we can't give up watching the Super Bowl in return. Here it is Colin Kaepernick is blackballed out of the football league because of his protest against police brutality and Black oppression. And how do we show our love and appreciation to him, we continue to support this league by watching every game on tv, we pack the stadiums and buy millions of dollars in merchandise. I thought back to the history of social and economic sacrifices Black Men have made for the Black community. Men such as Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King who gave of their lives for the cause. With John Carlos, Tommie Smith and Colin Kaepernick giving up their livelihood for the cause. And I'm not saying that you should be willing to give your life for the cause. Those types of sacrifices aren't by choice. The men that give of their life are usually chosen by something higher. Nor am I saying we the minority and poor should begin making economic sacrifices that will cost us our job and or the roof over our head. But when there are those willing to stand up for us and in place of us when asked or not, we must be willing to make those small sacrifices in return. In support.

We criticize Michael Jordan for not being a more vocal Black political figure. Caring more about his finances than the Black struggle. Yet we still buy Jordan and Nike sneakers and apparel. Yet we continue to support other big corporations and companies that don't support Black causes. So how can we ask of him to make that sacrifice for us, when some of us refuse to make sacrifices in our own lives. Now obviously the level of responsibility and sacrifice won't be measured the same by society due to his status and wealth. Society will see him as more, so will expect more from him than us. But the Spirit within what we are willing to sacrifice will be immeasurable. 

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As Super Bowl Sunday quickly came upon us all that February 3rd 2019, I awoke that day with a different understanding to the meaning of sacrificing. From that day forward I was never to criticize a Black Man or Woman for what He or She would or wouldn't do pertaining to the cause. Especially if I wasn't willing to do the same or come close to it. The system makes it so hard for the poor and disenfranchised to join in on any sacrifices big or small. That's why the power to any movement is rooted in individuals joining together in large numbers to exact change. Had more Brothers White and Black stood up for Kaepernick early on in his protest it would have made it extremely hard for the owners to collude and banish him from the league.

As kickoff time approached that Super Bowl Sunday I can remember seeing everyone sitting quietly in their chair, in front of the TV, deep in their own thoughts. For most of us over that Super Bowl weekend debate, we simply agreed to disagree. For most of us as we quietly sat waiting for the kickoff, I sensed a dorm filled with conflicted emotions. I know I was conflicted. Here I was preparing to watch the game as well as watch Travis Scott. (Who did end up attending and performing.) Meanwhile Kaepernick was being blackballed. I bet those same thoughts were in the mind of others as well. 

Now another Super Bowl is upon us this February 7th, 2021. The Chiefs versus the Bucs. Mahomes versus Brady. What a game it's going to be. My heart and Spirit continues to want to show appreciation and support for Kaepernick by not watching the game. But the guilty pleasure of the game has a stronger pull on me...today. So once again I'm conflicted. And once again I'll be watching. What about you?

Marvin Wade joined the Re/Creation Bed-Stuy writing workshop in 2019, shortly after coming home from a 25-year sentence primarily at Sing Sing. While inside, Marvin wrote multiple books’ worth of stories, novels, and personal essays on every bit of paper he could find, using his gifts as a writer to remake himself. He’s now learning the rudiments of writing and editing on a computer while working with the Re/Creation team. He is a Spiritual Activist based in Brooklyn. He reads his work, which is populated largely by strong women characters, every week in workshop, and now works with our team to create and edit his own dispatches. His poem “Where I’m From” was recently featured in Voices of Fortune 2020 literary magazine.