Before Trump Gets to the Super Bowl, the NFL Ends ‘End Racism’

I wish I could say I am surprised by the NFL’s announcement this week that they will place a new social justice message across the end zones of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. The commonly seen phrase “End Racism,” one of many messages the National Football League used in their stadiums for the last four years as part of its Inspire Change initiative, will be replaced with a new message: “Choose Love.”  

This will be the first Super Bowl since 2021 where the “End Racism” moniker will not be displayed — and the timing raises questions  

If I had to take a wild guess, I’d bet the NFL — after the announcement that President Donald Trump would attend the game — felt immense pressure to avoid ruffling the president’s feathers by continuing to highlight inequities and racism in America. After all, it would be quite a slap in the face to Trump, who, on day one, launched an aggressive campaign against DEI programs and signed executive orders dismantling diversity initiatives in federal agencies. 

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How could they possibly subject him to seeing “End Racism” in the end zone after every touchdown? 

Not There for the Long Haul

It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to surmise that the NFL, like major corporations such as Amazon and Walmart, is quietly pulling back from any initiatives that might be linked to the now-taboo acronym no one wants to say out loud: DEI.   

The league announced that the new message of “Choose Love” was introduced as a response to the string of tragedies that have gripped the nation since early 2025: the New Orleans terror attack, the Los Angeles wildfires, and recent plane crashes in Washington D.C., and Philadelphia. 

While I can understand how the phrase might relate to the terror attack — if only the terrorist had chosen love instead of violence — what is the connection to wildfires or plane crashes? How does choosing love prevent those kinds of disasters? 

I’ve long doubted the NFL, or corporate America, for that matter, was ever truly committed to standing with Black America for the long haul. The league’s splashy announcements about pouring millions into Black organizations, diversity initiatives, and equity-focused efforts always felt somewhat performative, particularly for a billion-dollar business that churns through dozens of Black athletes each year but can count the number of Black coaches on one hand. 

It was like someone telling you they love you after the first date: rushed, excessive, and difficult to believe.   

In 2020, I was surprised the NFL even pretended that they were committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion — issues that aligned with that summer’s protests after the murder of George Floyd. It was the least the league could do after mishandling then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s silent protest, kneeling during the National Anthem.

The backlash against Kaepernick from corporations, fans and conservative politicians was so intense, and the NFL’s response so feckless, that, by the end of that season, he never played another down in the NFL again. 

The racial unrest following George Floyd’s murder had been simmering since 2012, fueled by the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddy Gray, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and Breonna Taylor — just some of the victims of white vigilantism and police brutality that ignited a wave of outrage. 

The NFL stepped up with slogans when it was most convenient, but now it looks like the league is done playing make-believe. 

Different Words, Same Result

We can once again sense that familiar sting of abandonment as the NFL quietly removes the “End Racism” messaging, long before actual racism has ended.  What we’re witnessing now isn’t just the same old discrimination; it’s a more insidious and refined version, one that targets initiatives, policies, and individuals who dare to advance diversity. 

Some might see this as a revival of one of America’s darkest eras, a slow march toward resegregation. Others may ask why we expected anything different.

The NFL, the country’s most popular sports league, has long been seen as less progressive than the NBA, the country’s second most popular sports league. It wasn’t until 1989 that the modern NFL hired its first Black head coach when Art Shell took over the Los Angeles Raiders.

At the time, I was just 12 — too young to grasp the deep-rooted complexities of systematic racism and how it seeped into sports. Back then, I was just happy to see a Black man patrolling the NFL sidelines.   

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The NFL is saying all the right things. Commissioner Roger Goodell has publicly stated that diversity has strengthened the league and that their commitment to DEI wasn’t just a passing trend.  The league had a chance to show that it supported more than its fat-pocketed corporate investors.  It had a chance to prove to minorities and the diverse part of its audience that it had learned from its immoral treatment of Colin Kaepernick and its slow acceptance of Black men as quarterbacks and head coaches.

It had a chance to lock arms with the marginalized, those affected by racism across America. It had a chance to do that at the Super Bowl — one of the grandest stages in all of sports — during a most turbulent time in our country.  

But instead, the NFL took the back way home. The most powerful sports league in the country chose love. They should forgive Black America, if we don’t blush.  

John Celestand is the program director of the Knight x LMA BloomLab, a $3.2 million initiative that supports the advancement and sustainability of local Black-owned news publications. He is a former freelance sports broadcaster and writer who covered the NBA and college basketball for multiple networks such as ESPN Regional Television, SNY, and Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia. John was a member of the 2000 Los Angeles Lakers NBA Championship Team, playing alongside the late great Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and son. 

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