Sheila Jackson Lee: “Many of our jurisdictional committees have oversight over the major league sports teams, from baseball to basketball to…”

“Many of our jurisdictional committees have oversight over the major league sports teams, from baseball to basketball to football. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I have been engaged with my committee in the oversight of the National Football League. In fact, I remember more than a decade ago we were the first committee to deal with brain concussions and the lack of response by the NFL to the players. Today, I rise for the lack of response to racism and racial discrimination in the NFL. I take note of the lawsuit filed by Coach Brian Flores and would hope that the words, ``it is without merit'' will not stand. I believe it is important, with the number of minority players versus the number of coaches to that in terms of statistics, that we address the seeming appearance of racial discrimination in the NFL. I think it is important to reassess the Rooney rule to give a criteria for how coaches are selected, so mistakes like the coach from Boston sending the wrong notice that ``you have been hired'' to someone else would not happen. To Mr. Goodell and the owners, let's work together, let's get the teams to look like America. ____________________”