The Jerry Jones image has been all the internet has been talking about lately, including NBA legend LeBron James, who drew a comparison to his former teammate’s controversy. It seems like a “simple” photo of what happened in 1957 has managed to catch the attention of the entire world. The reason for that would be the seriousness of the issue that is involved in the conversation. What is the Jerry Jones image and why is it going viral all over the world?
Wow, so Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was one of the bullies trying to stop his Black classmates from desegregating Central High in Little Rock in 1957. https://t.co/IZm9DuTUhM pic.twitter.com/G4o7H2G9qp
— Joshua Clark Davis (@JoshClarkDavis) November 23, 2022
Jerry Jones is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. A few days ago, an image that featured Jerry Jones started resurfacing on the internet. In the picture, white teenagers can be seen stopping 6 black boys from entering the North Little Rock High School. Jones is at the back of the group and some distance away from the commotion, but many still believe that he is a “racist”.
What happened when the ‘Jerry Jones’ photo was taken?
Although it was more than six decades ago, fans believe that Jones should have done better than what he did. The image was taken on September 9th, 1957. Apart from being stopped, the black students had to deal with offensive and discriminative slurs from the ones standing in front of them as well.
The interesting fact is that his football coach, Jim Albright, gave him a warning. According to the Washington Post, Albright had mentioned that he did not want his boys there. This did not prevent Jones from appearing on the scene that day.
Recently, Jerry mentioned to ESPN, “I didn’t know at the time the monumental event really that was going on. “I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that. I am. That would remind me, just continue to do everything we can to not have those kinds of things happen.”
One of the main reasons why many fans believe that Jones is racist is because the Cowboys have never had a black head coach. Jerry took charge in 1989, and he has been sitting on the chair ever since. Under his reign, the Cowboys have interviewed many coaches from minority groups. This is because of the “Rooney Rule” imposed by the NFL. Despite that, none of them were hired.
The Cowboys have not had the best of times in terms of championship wins as well. The last time they went to the Super Bowl was in 1996, when they won it against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since then, the Cowboys have found it hard to replicate the success they had during the initial days. However, what requires the attention of the world right now is the fact that Jones was in the desegregation photo.
Many believe that the fact that he has not hired a black coach to lead the Cowboys speaks at length about his views when it comes to race. Jones has mentioned that it is strictly business-related reasons and not race, but fans don’t seem to be convinced by the American billionaire.
