Mahomes-Hurts Super Bowl matchup is evidence that a true meritocracy needs a diverse talent pool

The moment Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts takes his first snap in Super Bowl LIX, expect a flood of calls to the U.S. federal government's new snitch line reporting a DEI in progress.

Except that switchboard might already be jammed, and email inboxes could already be overflowing with messages from viewers complaining about Ledisi belting out Lift Every Voice and Sing pregame, or hoping the feds can preempt Kendrick Lamar's halftime show.

I'm exaggerating, but those hypothetical complainers wouldn't be the first people to interpret a Trump administration executive order attacking the federal government's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs as a greenlight to eradicate Blackness everywhere. Days after the executive order, the U.S. Air Force announced it would stop showing a video on the Tuskegee Airmen as part of pilot training. They reversed the decision after a swift and loud backlash from the public, but the initial move sent the message.

If DEI is in the Trump administration's crosshairs, then so are Black history and African-American culture.

So credit the NFL for deciding not to whitewash the Super Bowl in response to the White House's full frontal assault on DEI. It's a low bar, but outfits like Target and The Smithsonian have chosen not to clear it, rolling back DEI initiatives even though the executive order covers the federal government and not private companies.

A pairing of the same two Black quarterbacks we saw in 2023 suggests a certain type of progress against racism in the pro sports world, but it's happening as the Trump administration hacks away at decades of hard-won civil rights progress. 

But the success of Hurts, Mahomes and other Black quarterbacks exposes the reality that the