Every Black family has one. The Dallas Cowboys uncle.
You know him. He wears Jesus sandals, drinks Hennessy, still smokes menthol Kools, and has been saying “How ’bout them Cowboys?” since Jerry Jones had hair. The Dallas Cowboys aren’t just his favorite football team. They are part of his identity. And he is not alone.
The Undefeated noted that the Cowboys’ iconic brand was “largely bolstered by their Black fans,” particularly through stars like Bob Hayes, Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith. But we need to have a family meeting. Black folks, it is past time you break up with the Cowboys.
I could give you ten reasons why, but I don’t need to spill that much ink. I’ll give you two.
The Cowboys Suck
There was a time when being a Cowboys fan made perfect sense. In the 1990s, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin ran through the NFL, winning three Super Bowls in four seasons and making Dallas look like a football empire. Then came January 28, 1996.
In Super Bowl XXX, the Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 to win their fifth championship. And then nothing. The Cowboys haven’t won another Super Bowl since. Worse, they haven’t even reached the NFC Championship Game. Since that last title, Dallas has won just eight playoff games.
You read that right. Eight.
When your uncle starts talking about the Cowboys’ glory days, remind him that those glory days are old enough to have children, mortgages, and a 401(k). In 2026, the Dallas Cowboys suck. So why cheer for a team that is going to break your heart at the end of the season?
Jerry Jones is Unapologetically MAGA
This is where the Cowboys’ relationship gets complicated. The franchise has had a deep connection to Black football culture for generations. But the man who owns the team has made his own political allegiances pretty clear, and they are not aligned with us.
In 2017, a company controlled by Jerry Jones gave $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee. In 2025, Jones personally donated another $1 million to MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC. This week, while Trump was in town for his Republican event at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Jones had the President signing Cowboys helmets.
None of this is speculation or internet gossip. These are public political contributions and very public relationships. For Cowboys fans, that creates an unavoidable question: What does it mean when the team you grew up loving is owned by someone who almost certainly has a red hat in his closet?
I’ve been philosophical. Time to be direct. And this pains me to say because I have two Hennessy-drinking uncles, four cousins, three aunts, and a mother who support the Dallas Cowboys.
But if you cheer for the Dallas Cowboys in 2026, you’re making a choice. One that contradicts who we say we are as a community. The spirits of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, and Sojourner Truth frown upon your shenanigans. Sorry, Mom.
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