As “cancel culture” reaches back over a decade and demands justice for private emails from Jon Gruden, a successful and respected NFL coach, a question still remains: does it have the same intolerance for one of its own?

Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the National Football League, oversaw and organization that for years reportedly denied proper compensation for brain injuries to a large segment of football players based solely on their race. As details emerge about Jim Crow-like testing reminiscent of the infamous Tuskegee Experiment, it would seem Goodell has a lot of explaining to do and cancel culture has some work ahead.

The Tuskegee Experiments spanned from 1932 to 1972 and involved experiments that exclusively targeted black men. Tests were conducted to observe the effects of untreated syphilis. Over 400 black men were studied by denying them penicillin treatment, even though it was the standard therapy by 1947.

The results were tragic: 100 men died, 40 wives were infected and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. It was the prevailing belief at the time that there was a physiological difference between black and white people. It was thought that white people would more likely develop neurosyphilis while black people were more likely to sustain cardiovascular damage.