Herman Edwards ist Deutsch!?

Peter King unintentionally reveals a bombshell in his column this week. In writing about the Chiefs playing a game over in Germany as part of the NFL’s continued efforts to expand their international presence, he writes about Chiefs GM Carl Peterson’s preference for a German game. “Plus, says Peterson, ‘My head coach is one-half German, and my defensive coordinator was born in Germany.’' Hmmm. Never knew that one-half-German part about Herman Edwards.”

Whoa!?!?!

King has the same reaction I did. Chiefs head coach (and former Eagles DB) Herm Edwards is “one-half German?”

Now, relying on the accuracy of Carl Petersen and Peter King for something like this is akin to using Britney Spears for parenting information. But if Edwards really is half German, it raises a host of interesting questions on the third rail of American politics and society….No, not Social Security, but race relations.

For instance, Edwards is a member of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the ad hoc affirmative action group that promotes minority candidates for NFL coaching jobs and tries to influence the league’s hiring practices.

Not to point out the blindingly obvious, but people of German descent are the whitest of white people. The infamous Aryan race. Only the Scandanavians come close in whiteness, but they aren’t considered mainland Europe.

So how in the world does a “German-American” like Edwards qualify as a minority? Surely, the other half of the Edwards family is of African-american heritage. But all things being equal, and in Edwards’ racial makeup they are, why does he default to the African-american identity? Because it is advantageous for him to do so? Because the color of his skin? (that raises the issue of “blackness” and how dark does you skin have to be to be considered (or publicly perceived) as black.)

How much African-american heritage do you have to have in your family tree to be considered “African-american.” (and I realize that by even asking that question, I am treading dangerously close to the now discredited 1/8 blood standard.) Still, it would seem to be a fair question in light of Edwards’ Germanic background.

And what is a “minority?” Of the six “Fritz Pollard” coaches: Tony Dungy, Lovie Smith, Herman Edwards, Marvin Lewis, Romeo Crennel, and Mike Tomlin – all of them are African-american. Where are the Hispanics? Hispanics are now a larger percentage of the American population than African-americans, but there are ZERO Hispanic NFL head coaches. Interestingly, the Fritz Pollard Alliance says not a word about this disproportionate representation- - or lack of representation as the case may be.