LAST WORD

This policy represses peaceful, non-disruptive protest of police violence against unarmed African Americans and other people of color. It is disappointing that a league built on grit and competition lacks the constitution to stomach a call for basic equality and fairness.” From a letter by national civil rights groups to Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday asking the NFL to reverse its decision to punish players who kneel during the national anthem and fine teams whose players don’t comply, saying the peaceful protests are what the American flag represents. USA TODAY secured a copy of the letter. The groups are asking to meet with Goodell in hopes of getting the league to abandon its new rule. “We think that the league’s policy puts them on the wrong side of history,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Other groups party to the letter include the NAACP, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center, the National Action Network, the Advancement Project and the Arab American Institute. There was no immediate response from the NFL.