Vikings, Loyalty and Racism with an 8 year old

I have been conflicted with the whole Brett Favre Fiasco for quite a while and it is coming to a head tonight. I will not delve too far into it, but my biggest struggle has been how do I talk to my oldest, son, Josh about it. Josh was sad when Favre retired the first time, but he was able to deal with it pretty well. The Favre ended up playing for the Jets and Josh felt OK about this also, because he could root for Favre to do well and it wouldn’t affect the Packers in really any way whatsoever. When Favre retired again it wasn’t a big deal for Josh, and he was glad Favre was done. One morning, though, I came out of my bedroom to a very teary eyed Josh, sitting on the couch watching Sportscenter, and his only question was, “Why would Favre want to play for the Vikings?” Of course I didn’t have a great answer, but I tried to explain a bit about a desire to keep playing, and the possibility of greed and vanity, but at the end of this conversation, he just looked at me and sighed, “But why does he have to play for the Vikings?” All of this of course does not endear Brett Favre to me, and this past Saturday, Josh and I were looking at football figurines at the store we started looking for Packers players. I said, “If they have any Packers its probably just Brett Favre anyway.” To which Josh had this great reply, “As long as he’s in a Packer uniform that’s fine by me.” There it is, in the words of Seinfeld, he’s loyal to laundry. Somehow this makes me proud, and I am looking forward to Monday night’s game.

What followed this conversation, though, made me even prouder. Josh finally settled on a Vince Young figurine (remember an entire year and three games ago when Young was a mega-superstar) and we went to check out. As we were in line, he mentioned how excited he was to get the figurine, and I asked why. His response, “Well, he’s a black quarterback, and there are hardly any black quarterbacks Dad. I wish there were more.” It is worth mentioning that he and I have never discussed the number of black quarterbacks in the NFL-ever. If you have never met Josh, this sort of comment is not unheard of for him, and neither are racial questions. Martin Luther King, Jr. is his hero, and he has also been fascinated by Jackie Robinson. Maybe my favorite thing about Josh’s worldview around race is that it is punctuated with his odd brand of humility, observation, and service. He knows that he is white. He also knows that there are other races. When he puts these two pieces together then he is able to ask and figure out what loving his neighbors look like. His honesty about this reminds me that the two dominant models I have been given for dealing with race- race doesn’t exist and race is the most important thing about us- are lacking precisely because they rob us of the chance to serve and love each other. Thanks Josh.