Commentary
Straight No Chaser: Getting It Done
By Desi Cortez, BASN Columnist
Mar 16, 2010

Natalie Randolph

DENVER (BASN) -- I've never struggled with the thought of a women . . . doing any damn thing she wanted to do. So, I expect women to "get her done" - be it as an astronaut, race car driver, fireman or head football coach.

For me, a few women are stamped in my little mind as symbols of Black womanhood; Angela Davis and Shirley Chisholm, Mary McLeod Bethune, the Black women of the Wild, Wild West like "Stagecoach Mary" instantly come to mind, as do the Black women who served this country in the World Wars, the "colored Rosie Riveters".

My wife's Aunt Imogene Hawkins lead a crew of women during WWII, she 's still kickin',  hell-of-a-classy ol'dame. My "Nana" drove trucks for the war effort in WWI . . . society, the times and conditions no-longer  mass-produce them like that any longer.

My simple-minded thought, if you can make it do what it do  . . . then go ahead and make it do it.

Women tend to have a bull-dogged determination, a stick-to-it-ness that real men marvel at. I think its got something to do with a woman's permanent status as "little-man" in society, merely due to women tend to be the smaller of the human spices, now true, in-parts of America . . . they grow'em big, but overall  - humans with vagina's' are smaller then humans with penises.

Women undeniably have a right to have a chip on their shoulders, and many, many of them rightfully do. They've been punked n' bullied . . . by punks and bullies.

They've been told what they can  n' can't do . . . and a number of them don't like that. They take it personal and they tell men to take that job description you created . . . and shove it, baby.

My wife and I are raising our little caramel drop to let no man put neither hands or limitations upon her. And she now has another role model to imitate and emulate.

Natalie Randolph made sports history when introduced Friday morning as head football coach at Coolidge High in Washington, D.C. Randolph, 29, teaches environmental science at Coolidge.

She was an assistant coach at H.D. Woodson in Washington in 2006 and 2007. She played six seasons as a wide receiver and on special teams with the D.C. Divas of the National Women's Football Association.

She was a track athlete (sprints and hurdles) at the  University of Virginia and began her coaching career in 2004 with Track Express Track Club in Largo, Md. 

I'm not surprised Coach Robinson is Afro-American either.

Black American women have never known their assigned place, thank god, and in-part that's been because of the strategic castration of the black male for centuries, and now today self-destruction, the Black male's acceptance and embracing of those belittling limitations White folks have outlined for him to abide-by.

It all created an imperfect storm which left the Black women with no choice but fold, break and crumble - or  step-up  . . and step-up she did.

Matter-of-factly she's done it in spectacular fashion . . . against all odds. Check with Sin City - all odds!

"Girls and women -- along with their fathers, sons and brothers -- now have clear evidence that the gridiron ceiling can be broken," said Karen Durkin, chief executive officer of the Women's Sports Foundation.

"Natalie's hiring will serve as a much-needed catalyst for women in leadership positions across all sports." And it won't stop with sports.

When young impressionable men are led into battle by a lady general  like Robinson, and they come out victorious, or  when they suffer unavoidable defeat - I'm sure she'll teach them how to do both with dignity an valor, like civilized gladiators. 

Those men will take that into life, seek to merry women like that, and raise little girls to be "little iron britches". Women, ladies who can walk it like they talk it, and make a man weak at the knees . . make you speak Japanese. 

Think female versions of Eddie Robinson and Vince Lombardi, I know, it hurts, but visualize both with breast, I don't know, but your going to see women who can lead men in football.

Hell, they lead our households already, our bedrooms and bank accounts. Gentleman, I submit we not fight it, it's inevitable. Submit. 

"I'd say it is a big deal, particularly since it is football," said Pamela Noakes, executive director of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.

"In colleges, only 2% to 3% of the coaches of men's teams are women, and most of those are coaches of already coed teams like swimming or cross country, the usual ways that women break into the ranks of coaching men."

"I'm excited for the opportunity to coach these young men, and I'm flattered at the outpouring of support and encouragement from the D.C. football and academic community," Randolph said in a news release.

"I know how important high school football is to these young men, the parents, the school, and the Coolidge community. I plan on taking this opportunity and running with it."

Well, there you have it, call it assertive, call it aggressive.

Call it the right attitude from day one. Gentlemen for the first time in my life . . . I'll be following D.C. High School football. I'm from the 213, the 90062, I know not a . . . about Chocolate City Pigskins.

You know, honestly, I thought this country would have as the first Black President . . . a women.  They're better prepared and tougher.

To many brothers, we're made of plastic. Backbone's like Gumby. 

Read this again,  while spinnin'  the Temptations "Plastic Man, Masterpiece" Album.