The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Michigan in Color 8 — Wednesday, February 23, 2022 Well, here we are again. I can’t say I’m surprised; I don’t even think I’m disappointed. Deep down, I knew it was only a matter of time before more of the National Football League’s (NFL) corruption would come to light to prove, yet again, that no matter how many helmets they print “end racism” on, the NFL is, without a doubt, racist. I was hopeful that the next piece I would write about the NFL would be to praise some of my current favorite quarterbacks that have completely changed the game. Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson, I’m talking to you. Unfortunately, another instance of systemic racism in the NFL has been brought to light with a recent lawsuit by for- mer Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. Flores has sued the NFL claim- ing the organization was racially discriminatory in its head coach hiring process. He alleges that the owner of the Dolphins, Uni- versity of Michigan’s own Ste- phen M. Ross, of the Ross School of Business, offered Flores money to purposely lose games in the 2019 season. Having more losses than wins would better the Dolphins’ chances of acquir- ing a higher draft pick, allowing them to select the best upcom- ing player for the future of their franchise. However, Flores was focused on having a successful season by winning, not by manip- ulating the future NFL draft. Every time Flores and his team would win games, the Dolphins’ general manager would express anger towards him, claiming that he was hurting the team. With his commitment to the cur- rent success of his team, Flores recorded back-to-back winning seasons with the Dolphins for the first time since 2003. Despite the immense success he brought this organization, on Jan. 10, the Dolphins fired him, on grounds of being considered difficult to work with. Then, as he began seeking a new job as a head coach, Flores attended interviews with the New York Giants and the Den- ver Broncos. Flores had a Zoom interview with the Giants and was given a date for an in-person interview in the near future. However, before this interview, he was informed through a text by one of his old colleagues that someone else had received the position. The NFL has a rule called the Rooney Rule, which states that its teams are required to hold an in-person interview with at least one minority or female candidate for a general manager or head coach posi- tion. This means they were still required to hold the interview, only for him to find out that someone else was offered the position a day later, implying that the decision had already been finalized before Flores’s interview. Flores states he had a similar experience in interviews with the hiring managers of the Denver Broncos, further alleging that the interviewees arrived an hour late and were hungover. In addition to his success- ful seasons with the Dolphins, Flores has had a triumphant coaching career with other NFL teams. As an assistant coach, defensive coordinator and safe- ties coach for the New England Patriots, he has won four Super Bowl titles. Many of the players he has coached rave about how supportive and compassionate he was to them. His past col- leagues have even stated that he is dedicated “to doing things the right way. He never cut corners… He’s always been a guy that’s been level, never too high, never too low. That’s what made him a great player, and that’s what’s making him a great coach.” Flores has an incredible résumé and numerous accolades to his name; having recently been fired from the Dolphins being denied these two head coaching posi- tions is questionable consider- ing the large impact he has had on the organization in his time there and the potential he brings for its future. The NFL has a long history of racial discrimination against Black coaches. The fact that the Rooney Rule exists just to check a box to say that a marginalized individual was taken into con- sideration shows its corruption. Flores having been fired because he was labeled difficult to work with, a common way of devalu- ing Black people in professional settings, shows the NFL’s dis- criminatory ways. I hope he is given the justice he deserves. The NFL is long overdue in enacting actual systemic change and owning up to its apparent discrimination. But instead of focusing solely on all the ways this institution is corrupt, I want to now call attention to some of the amazing and talented Black coaches in NFL history and pres- ent day. Hue Jackson is a former coach of the Cleveland Browns who had an impressive coaching career. As a testament to this, Jackson won the 2015 NFL Assistant Coach of the Year award and has played an integral role in the suc- cess of franchises he has been a part of. Former colleagues praise him for his industrious mentality and overall commitment to play- er development. However, Jack- son claims to have had the same experience as Flores in his time with the Browns. The Browns offered him money to lose games and were successful in their goal of acquiring high draft picks; but Jackson was fired from his position in the 2019 season. He now serves as the head coach of Grambling State’s football team. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Head Coach, Mike Tomlin, has given this organization consistent success in his 15 seasons with the Steelers. Tomlin made his- tory in the NFL this most recent season by setting the record for the most consecutive non-losing seasons at the beginning of a coaching career. He has seven American Football Conference (AFC) North Division titles, two AFC titles, has had nine playoff appearances and is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl. He is one of the longest-tenured active head coaches in the NFL. Tom- lin is praised by his players and fellow NFL coaches for how well he controls and commands his team. Mike Tomlin still remains the head coach of the Steelers. As a Lions fan, I have a soft spot for Jim Caldwell. Though there has not been much to cel- ebrate in Lions history, Caldwell gave Detroit hope for a brighter future during his time here as a head coach. At the beginning of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he trained its quarterback, Brad Johnson, and in turn, Johnson broke team records for passing yards, completions and attempts, help- ing the team to finish with a winning season and a National Football Conference Wild Card spot. He served as part of the coaching staff for seven years with the Indianapolis Colts, and head coach for another three years. In nine of these seasons, the Colts set records by appear- ing in nine consecutive playoff appearances in which they won six AFC South titles and made it to two Super Bowls, winning one. Later, serving as an offen- sive coordinator for the Balti- more Ravens, Caldwell led the team to a Super Bowl win. Final- ly, in his time with the Detroit Lions, the defense ranked sec- ond in the NFL in total defense in 2014, making it one of its best defensive teams in Lions history. He was also the Lions’ first non- interim coach to leave the team with a winning record since the 1967-72 coach, Joe Schmidt, with two playoff seasons. He was fired from the Lions in 2017 on grounds of not being successful enough against higher-ranked teams for the then general man- ager, Bob Quinn. Jim Caldwell was the Lions’ most successful coach in almost 30 years. Two coaches have since gone on to take his place, but they have failed to even reach Caldwell in his success. I love clothes. My night-time routine involves plugging music into my ear and muting out all my thoughts because at the end of a long and stressful day of classes, I get to unwind and focus on creating my next day’s outfit. At the end of a long day, what I want to focus on most are the clothes in my closet. I spend a few intimate moments curat- ing what I want to wear and how I want to wear it. I want to look good for me, myself and I. Today, my fashion inspira- tion comes from the rappers I listen to, the skateboarders I keep up with, the N.B.A play- ers I imitate and Mexican L.A. street style. Artists like Kanye West, Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, skaters like Louie Lopez and Sean Pablo and athletes like Kevin Durant put together out- fits that make them shine bright. Each has a unique and signature style, inspiring me to curate my own. There’s a tension, however, between being truly unique and conforming to the trends of soci- ety. Over the years, I’m sure you’ve come across the “Aes- thetic Starter Pack” meme. It’s a collection of clothing pieces that are associated with a particular type of person. It’s interesting to see how people categorize them- selves, others and their person- alities based on a particular set of clothing. When I go out to skate, I put on my beanie, button up shirt and loose flowing pair of pants to pull off a classic skater boy look. It’s fun and easy, but I want to push myself to not fall for the trends too heavily. Though thrifting, I’m able to experiment with my clothes and avoid cur- rent trends by acquiring time- less pieces. Thrifting allows me to enter my own fashion world and find my own style in a finan- cially stable and sustainable way. I’m creating my own collection of clothes that speak to me. I find confidence in who I am by what I wear, and finding my own style fuels an ongoing journey of authenticity. When I look good and feel good about myself, I can feel better on my skateboard or on the basketball court. When I am thrifting, my eyes are constantly adjusting, moving from left to right as my fingers comb the clothing racks in search of my next purchase. It takes time, but I search for pieces that call to me. It could be a smaller fitting shirt that complements my skinny frame or an oversized dress shirt that drapes over my arms. I’m always looking for polos of all different shapes and sizes or pants that are baggy enough to cuff and fit nicely over my sneakers. Thrift- ing appeals to me because you can become the owner of a piece that is one of a kind. Thrift stores are not like the stores at malls, where there are hundreds of shirts in all sizes with the same graphic. These clothes come from dusty basements and can be generation-long hand-me- downs. And, if someone doesn’t love or want their piece of cloth- ing, I’m able to take it in and care for it. One particular piece of cloth- ing that I care deeply for came from the city of Detroit. When I lived in Detroit this past summer, I explored the city and visited all the thrift stores and vintage shops to find my next catch. I learned about the city’s history and gained a greater apprecia- tion for its culture. Detroit loves its sports teams, with the Detroit Pistons playing such an impor- tant role in the city’s culture. The Pistons are three-time world champions. From the Bad Boy Pistons winning two championships in the late 80s to beating the Shaq and Kobe duo in 2004, Detroiters love the Pistons and living in Detroit made me become a bigger fan of the team. On weekends when I wasn’t working at my internship, I would bike down to Tolan Park and play basketball on a court designed with Pistons decals. I would join pick up games with the people from the city and play for hours. I was playing basket- ball in Detroit while listening to some of my favorite Detroit artists like Baby Tron and Flint rappers like Rio Da Yung Og. My love for the city, and the Pis- tons, made me want to thrift and find vintage Pistons pieces, so I embarked on a search. A few blocks from Tolan Park is Eastern Market. This farm- ers market is filled with food vendors on Saturdays, but on Sundays, the sheds become a space for vendors to sell their art, clothes, jewelry and more. One vendor, Brandon’s Vintage Basement, had my attention the moment I laid my eyes on the clothes racks stuffed with vin- tage Detroit sports teams shirts. Vintage tees can be expensive — ranging from $50-$200 — but I was always aware of my budget. I kept drifting back and forth from this stand through- out the day, finding myself star- ing at the shirts on the rack and debating if I should purchase a Detroit Pistons shirt. I eventu- ally had to ask myself, ‘when will I ever be living in Detroit, on my own, spending the summer in the city?’ My summer in Detroit would be coming to an end, and I needed something to remember it by. I finally purchased a black shirt with the classic Pistons logo from the 90s, even though it was more pricey than usual, because I knew that I would love and wear that shirt until it wore down to its final thread. And far later that summer, I also found a championship hat from the ‘04 Pistons title run. When I bought this hat, I knew that I was paying for a quality hat that, to me, had a deeply sacred and historical meaning. 1. What you need: flour, yeast, water, salt and olive oil. Focaccia is a no-brain- er for beginner bakers. It’s the perfect bread for college students who commute back and forth between classes and club meetings. The yeast respiration allows the dough to rise in the fridge overnight, without excessive kneading or complica- tions. 2. My mother says only food sticks in my memory. Her secret noodle recipe which became a go-to whenever we were too lazy to cook. The individual drops of rice swimming in the porridge for my sick days as a child, with a perfect consistency achieved from being boiled on low heat for hours. The vegetarian bao, bursting with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms and tofu, that she and I always picked up on Friday afternoons in Shanghai. She hates that I forget to bring my homework to school, but never the packed lunch. She hates that I forget she’s a light sleeper when I lurch into the kitchen at 2 a.m., shoving Kirkland Mixed Nuts down my throat until my heartbeat slows. 3. Measure yeast and mix it with room- temperature water. Using warm water nurtures the yeast and helps it grow. 4. My mother’s birthplace is named after its proximity to water. The area of the country is, which is “South of the River” in Chinese. The women of were known to be honey-voiced, moon- skinned with hips that homed oceans and swayed liked fishtails. We know this because male poets wrote about them for dynasties. My mother was raised by her grandparents on sticky rice rolls that wrapped youtiao, marinated egg, zhacai, yellow croaker noodles and shengjianbao. Later, she moved to Beijing for schooling, where her parents worked as aerospace engineers. 5. Pour the yeast water into the salt- and-flour mixture. Mix gently until a mass forms in your bowl. Pour the olive oil and begin kneading. 6. is the abbreviation of my father’s home province, named after the state of from the Spring and Autumn period. But the only seasons I remember of his city are the summers and winters, when my family visits for the holiday. My father comes from the land of black vinegar, knife-sliced noodles, millet porridge and coal mines. My mother told me that he never tasted fish before the age of 12. The eldest son in a peasant family of six, my father was his family’s pride for attending a top college in the capital. After gradu- ation, he drifted toward the seaside and settled there, where he gradually grew accustomed to the breakfast xiaolongbao and plum rain. 7. Olive oil should alleviate the sticki- ness of the dough. Once all the flour is properly incorporated into the mixture, you are more than halfway there. Cover the bowl and leave it in the fridge for at least 12 hours. 8. Even after my parents got married, my grandparents never approved of my father. They say he eats like someone who starved to death in their past life. He slurps up noodles like a hurricane demolishing a village and gulps down his rice with the force of a ghost general who can make things disappear into thin air. They trace his crude manners to his peas- ant lineage, saying no matter how smart a monkey is, it can only paddle in the ocean. My grandparents always called me a fat Shanxi girl, because I bear no resem- blance to the women of . Whenever I ask for more rice, they take my bowl to refill it. But the bowl that appears before me is only half-full, with a familiar warn- ing that crawls up behind my ear: “Don’t eat too much, or else you will be like your father.” Bala hasad, Yasmine, say Smallah so you don’t give ayn” This is a phrase that has been regurgitat- ed to me throughout my life. When compli- menting family and friends, I have always been careful to not cast the “evil eye” onto someone. Whether I have been conscious of it or not, the evil eye has played a signifi- cant role in how I talk to and coexist with others. The evil eye: a sacred phenomenon and the superstition of all superstitions. In my religion and culture, the evil eye is a widely held belief. It is a malicious gaze cast by an envious person, preventing one from good health and fortune by sending negativity their way. In order to be protected from hasad, or evil, various cultures have pro- moted wearing or displaying the symbol as a form of defense. Over the course of my life, my home was littered with evil eye wall decor and I was constantly gifted evil eye jewelry by my loved ones. I was taught to bless others after giving compliments so as not to cast evil or bad fortune upon them. If my evil eye decor or jewelry were to break, I’d quickly become suspicious; legend has it that if your evil eye emblem breaks, it has successfully protected you from someone’s ayn or harmful “eye”. I would wonder, “has it really served its pur- pose?” After, I’d promptly replace my pen- dant, whether that be a necklace, anklet, bracelet, ring or keychain. Believing in this protection from evil almost became second nature to me, treating the evil eye as not only a superstition, but a way of thinking that translated into my everyday life. This easily discernible symbol, composed of a royal blue outer circle, white midsection pupil and small black iris, is more than just a colorful work of art. However, over time, the evil eye has lost its historical signifi- cance, becoming more of a fashion fad than religious and cultural hieroglyph. The evil eye stems far beyond popular culture. Dating as early as 5,000 years ago, the first-ever recorded evil eye was marked on clay tablets by the Mesopotamians. Intersecting both culture and religion, wariness of evil is found in the scriptures of various religions — Islam, Judaism, Bud- dhism and Hinduism (among others) — while also dating back to ancient Greek and Roman cultures. From the beginning of civilization, humans have feared a harmful gaze, doing whatever was in their power to protect themselves and their families from evil. As a practicing Muslim, the evil eye has always been something I am wary of. I’ve been taught to be careful of the lan- guage used when complimenting someone, almost always blessing them afterward with Islamic reaffirmations such as Mashallah and Smallah, in order to pre- vent their good fortune from being jinxed. Throughout my life, I have gifted friends and family with variations of evil eye pen- dants as protection from evil. As I write this, I am wearing an evil eye necklace and gold bracelet with multiple evil eye pen- dants interlinked together. To some, this symbol ignorantly serves as a cute jewelry piece — an uninformed infatuation with cultural symbols without actually bearing the weight of carrying that culture. For those who practice the culture it originat- ed from, the evil eye serves as a protective measure from harm they may not be aware of. In Islamic culture, the Hand of Fatima and the evil eye symbol are equal signs of protection that have reappeared hand in hand throughout my life. I often see new parents pin an evil eye charm to their new- born child’s clothes, while others hang the Hand of Fatima or evil eye symbol in their new homes or business establishments. Some may even choose to dangle the sym- bol from the rearview mirror of their car. Protection from hasad or “destructive envy” is a recurring theme in Islamic cul- ture. Both religiously and culturally, the evil eye holds tremendous weight for those who believe in it, serving as much more than a trendy wardrobe fad, later to be found in a pile of other short-lived “fash- ion must-haves” in the back of someone’s Here we go again: examining the NFL’s anti-Black discriminatory hiring processes I love my clothes… but it’s complicated Focaccia recipe from a Chinese daughter Younji Jin/TMD Design by Maya Sheth MARIA PATTON MiC Columnist JUAN P ABLO ANGEL MARCOS MiC Columnist LOLA YANG MiC Columnist Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com Read more at MichiganDaily.com YASMINE ELKHARSSA MiC Columnist Evil eye: cultural emblem or fashion fad?