Our biggest issue is where our best athletes go.
Basketball, football, baseball, track and field, have first dibs.
Also, nobody in the hood has a soccer ball…or a field without needles and broken glass.
That’s true but you need to see that a ball is all a kid needs. I learned to play soccer in elementary school when the school threw a ball on the field and left the scene. We all knew what to do. The game did not pick a skilled player to be the QB, the ball bounced randomly to everyone at some time. No one was told to be a receiver or to stay home and block.
I agree that the player goes where the notariety will be greatest. (and safest, I had a wide receiver choose to be careful so he did not ruin his Basket Ball skills with a hand injury.) When I got into soccer, it was far safer than football — and I was not good with my hands — the feet were a different matter. I played soccer after trying the traditional American sports because it fit with me. (I was average size after all) but I ended up coaching football and track too. (as a teacher I needed to be active in every season or I would have lost my free period. Plus, I did relate with kids — very important for coaching. I suspect soccer is here to stay and players will make the same choices that I made. Clearly football has a place for a variety of players with different skills, but so does soccer, and soccer equipment is cheaper, so the hood can afford it more easily.
I think you will start to see a change.
I think what happened to Damar Hamlin has sent some shockwaves through the black community about the safety of football. They notice white parents less and less let their kids play football, out of the health concerns, and wonder why there isn’t the same level of concern in black households.
So I believe fairly soon, you will begin to see more blacks embrace soccer, especially as more and more black players, like Mbappe, become stars.