In tomorrow’s Super Bowl game, most highlights will belong to Black players. Unquestionably, it is in sporting contests that Blacks excel in a society well-known for its racism against Black people. Indeed, why are they so successful in sports, better than any other racial group in America? There are two answers, one is racist and the other commonsense. The racist answer tries to locate Blacks’ success in their physical attributes, such as one offered by “Jimmy the Greek” who in 1988 infamously said Blacks were physically stronger because of having been slaves. (Jimmy the Greek was fired for his TV comments).

The commonsense explanation is closer to our daily experiences: Blacks do well in sports because in sporting contests the rules are mostly incontrovertible, clear and strictly enforced. When a Black boxer knocks down a white boxer in the ring with millions of people witnessing, it’s quite impossible to insist that the white man won when he is the one stretched out on the mat. It is scientific, empirical and immediate. In sports, one can win by simply jumping higher, running faster, and punching harder, and Black people can bypass all the white cheatings and trickeries. No wonder, sports attract a large number of Black youth who expect greater justice and fairness in sports. Conversely, few Asians and Jews join sports as athletes simply because they can overcome social injustice better in non-sporting enterprises in America — as doctors, scientists, academics, journalists, bankers, lawyers and so on.

Similar to sports, there is another social institution where Blacks are at least as successful as any other racial group in America —the military, both in war and peace. The famed 54th of Massachusetts, made up of free Blacks during the Civil War, left one of the most admired legacies of valor. They fought as hard and courageously as any whites, and perhaps more honorably than many white soldiers. Even in today’s military, the two top military men, the late Colin Powell and current Department of Defense secretary Lloyd Austin, are both Black and their intelligence, skill and dedication are beyond question. In the rank-and-file, Blacks are very well represented among the non-commissioned officers, demonstrating their capacity to do the job as individual competitors. Why are Blacks so successful in war and military life? As in sports, the rules of engagement in military life are clear and simple: You win the contest by outperforming the other guy, without worrying about white bias and prejudice.

In social contests, by contrast, such as in corporate powers and social climbing, all competitions are fraught with cheating and corruption because the business of competition itself is subjective and therefore prone to whim and caprice. Our society tends to reward vanity, greed and hubris, and injustice prevails far more often than justice in the results of our social competition. In consequence, the rich and powerful whites enjoy advantages in virtually every social contest — except in sports.

The inevitable question that is now before us: How do we make the rules of social contests as simple and fair as the rules of sports and war so that Blacks have the same chance of success in society as anybody, unimpeded by racism? In my desperate effort to come up with a solution, and inspired by tomorrow’s Super Bowl where the stars would be mostly Black and the cheering crowd mostly white, an idea came to me: Let’s revive the duel. Yes, the duel — as in the old American tradition — an offended person challenges an offending person to a duel, in this case a Black person issuing a challenge to a white racist to a one-on-one duel. Since America’s institutional society is not going to help, we must rely on individual, man-to-man solutions. The possibility of death and injury in an ensuing duel hanging over their racist acts and speeches, this legislation —“The Fair Dueling Act” — would make it difficult for the racists to practice racism with usual impunity. Imagine a sharp Black woman who can challenge, with real bullets, a big mouth like Marjorie Taylor Greene to a duel; and that prospect alone would surely moderate the latter’s openly racist behavior.

The challenger, likely to be the victim of racism, could formally notify the offender (demagogue politicians, racist billionaires, or any white supremacists) to a duel. The challengers could name the weapons of their choice, such as fists, guns, swords, whatever. Racist whites could not possibly refuse, with all the bravado of superiority normally displayed, when challenged to a duel without looking cowardly. In reality, indeed, white power exists institutionally, and without the backing of a vast network of America’s political-economic-cultural institutions, and when they are isolated from their fellow racists, white racists are scaredy cats. (No QAnon member would dare cruise through a Black neighborhood alone at night). Away from their collective swagger and bluster, these white tough guys are not really tough and are often reduced to whimpering and groveling if confronted one to one with justice, as we witnessed in the trials of Capitol rioters. A tough, angry Black challenger might be the last person these not-so-brave white supremacists want to confront in a mano a mano duel.

Blacks have proven, and will do it again in tomorrow’s Super Bowl, they are hearty winners: Just give them a fair chance. On the other hand, white superiority works only with institutionalized advantages, such as armed cops on their side or their own AR-15s, that tilt the playing field. When whites have no easy access to such advantages, as in the simple duel, with life and death hanging in the balance, Blacks are as good as anyone in enjoying fair outcomes.

Jon Huer, columnist for the Recorder and professor emeritus, lives in Greenfield.

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