Whatever the cause, the violence is maddening and damaging. No one wants to talk about this on the record, but there is an inescapable truth hurting black athletes, particularly NFL players.

They are seen as high risk in comparison to white players for a couple of reasons: 1. Black players are likely to have grown up in a single-parent household without a male authority figure; 2. On average, they've demonstrated an inability to avoid trouble.

It's not a coincidence that in a league that is approximately 70 percent black, the top three players in the 2008 draft were white — Jake Long, Chris Long and Matt Ryan. Keep in mind, Darren McFadden and Glenn Dorsey were widely considered the two "most talented" players in the draft.

Signing bonuses for players taken at the very top of the NFL draft have skyrocketed. When an NFL owner forks over $30 million in cash, he wants to feel confident the player won't be shot or in some other way damage his career while trying to figure out how to keep a foot in two worlds that are constantly feuding.

I wish I had an easy solution. I don't. The solution is complex and involves all of us examining and rejecting the forces that make America disgustingly violent.