Jesse Jackson's Letter to Green Bay Packers Re: Rhodes Firing

Text of Letter from Jesse Jackson to the Green Bay Packers

Discusses firing of Ray Rhodes as head coach

The Associated Press released the following letter that Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition sent to the Green Bay Packers regarding the teams recent firing of Ray Rhodes:

"We are writing to express our grave concerns and disappointment over the firing of Ray Rhodes and his entire coaching staff. Despite what could be considered a mediocre season by some, it would appear premature to dismiss Ray one year into a four-year contract. Any new coach deserves a chance to implement his system, which is presumably the reason they are hired. The question therefore begs - Was Ray Rhodes, an African American, held to a different standard? It is a question only you and the Packer organization can answer and it is one that deserves an answer because the impact of Ray's dismissal reaches far beyond Green Bay. With the dismissal of Ray Rhodes, the NFL lost one-third of its black head coaches. Such a blow is testimony to the shortage of black coaches in the league, a league where 65 percent of the players are African American. Not only has there not been an improvement in those numbers; there has been a retrenchment, which is unacceptable given the NFL's mandate for diversity. Compounding the situation was the dismissal of Sherm Lewis and Emmitt Thomas, the offensive and defensive coordinators of the Packers. One of the most direct paths to a head coaching job is through those positions and in this case, their train to a head coaching job has, at best, been sidetracked and, at worst, derailed. That Lewis had been with Green Bay for a number of years, and had been a major contributor to the recent glory years, makes his dismissal all the more puzzling. Our other concern has to do with the opening Ray's dismissal creates. As the list of serious candidates’ surfaces, we find African Americans conspicuously absent. Certainly there are African Americans who warrant consideration for the vacancy and you would remiss not to include them in the pool of candidates. We hope that the Packers organization will act accordingly. We deem this matter to be extremely serious and hope you will respond in that same vein, but we certainly would like to hear an explanation of why Ray was terminated so quickly. It is just too important to be ignored. We look forward to discussing this matter at your convenience. . . .

Thank you in advance for your prompt response.

Sincerely,

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., President and Founder

Charles S. Farrell Director,

Rainbow Sports

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