Superintendent regrets disparaging comments on Deshaun Watson as a Black QB

A school district superintendent in Texas is claiming he regrets saying of QB Deshaun Watson of the Houston Texans, “You can’t count on a Black quarterback,” reports the Washington Post. The comment was posted to a Houston Chronicle Facebook page, and the official said he thought he was responding instead to a private message from a friend. “I wish it had never been posted,” Lynn Redden, the superintendent of the Onalaska (Texas) Independent School District, told the Chronicle on Monday. The official, whose district is located about 85 miles north of Houston, was frustrated by a game-ending sequence in the team’s 20-17 loss Sunday to the Tennessee Titans in which Watson mismanaged his team’s final play. “That may have been the most inept quarterback decision I’ve seen in the NFL,” Redden wrote in his Facebook comment. “When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a Black quarterback.” According to the Chronicle, Redden quickly deleted his comment, but a Houston-area resident captured an image of it and alerted the newspaper. “It’s important to make sure horrible words are met with consequences, especially for those in powerful positions with influence,” the resident, Matt Ericksen, said. Ericksen added that while he didn’t have children in the Onalaska district, he was concerned about what he saw as an overtly racist remark made by someone in Redden’s position. A 2016-17 Texas Academy Performance Report listed nine students out of a total of 26 in the district, or 0.9 percent, as African American. Redden claimed that while he understands how his comment could be viewed as racist, that was not his intention. He said that he was talking about how Black quarterbacks have fared in the league, telling the Chronicle, “Over the history of the NFL, they have had limited success.” Of Redden’s remarks, the Onalaska ISD said in a Facebook post Tuesday that it “regrets that an inappropriate comment has been attributed” to the superintendent. “The OISD does not condone negative comments or actions against any race,” it said, adding that it “values every individual” and “will take the appropriate measures to address the situation expeditiously and completely.” KPPR-TV reported Tuesday that the Onalaska school board is set to hold a special meeting Saturday to discuss possible measures that could be taken regarding Redden and his contractual status.