The real reason
Remember, Kaepernick’s stance was about brutality, equality, justice
Jarrett Bell: Events have overshadowed protests’ purpose
Let’s say this together everybody, in unison. With arms locked.
Brutality. Equality. Justice. Got it?
Surely, we need Colin Kaepernick in uniform on an NFL sideline, to help lead the chorus, because the original point of his courageous protest last year — to express outrage at the treatment of African Americans by police and other systemic social inequalities in America — has been so overshadowed.
First, with Kaepernick protesting during the national anthem, it was the perceived disrespect of the flag and the military.
Now the point of the protests in the NFL has morphed into a call for unity — including the demonstration of teams to band together to refute the vicious heat from Donald Trump.
No, this isn’t Kaepernick’s protest, anymore.
Don’t get me wrong. Unity is a wonderful concept — and if I’m an NFL coach trying to inspire my team to work together for a common goal, or an NFL owner trying to appeal to the masses to protect the bottom line, or even Joe Fan looking for a win in a rivalry game, unity sells.
On Thursday night in Green Bay, Packers players will lock arms during the national anthem and are urging fans at Lambeau Field to do likewise before the game against the Chicago Bears. The Atlanta Falcons have revealed plans for a similar expression before their home game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.
These gestures underscore how the NFL and its teams are attempting to manage the messages and perceptions flowing
from the pregame festivities.
Then again, Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, who runs the football operations for the Denver Broncos, proposes a solution while hoping the protests cease: Keep politics out of sports.
Yeah, right. This is the same Elway who earlier this year wrote a letter, on Broncos stationary, supporting the Supreme Court nomination of Neil Gorsuch.
Elway’s actions suggest it’s OK for sports to be involved if aligned with his political views.
Still, let’s hear it for unity. Especially in a nation so polarized by politics, economics and opportunities. Unity would have much more substance if it is demonstrated on a level playing field in our society, including the criminal justice matters and other issues raised by Kaepernick.
That’s the message that needs to be heard loud and clear about now, with players more empowered than ever to use their platforms in the nation’s most popular sport to spark debate and perhaps even change.
Yet there was Trump again on Wednesday, taking another shot at NFL protestors as he calls for the league to deny players the basic American right to peacefully protest. On Sunday, at least 200 players across the league sat or knelt during the anthem.
“The NFL has to change or you know what’s going to happen?” Trump said to reporters at the White House. “Their business is going to hell.”
Just because Trump says it doesn’t mean it’s right. Obviously.
It’s striking that until Trump went on his vile rant on Friday night in Huntsville, Ala. — calling protestors “sons of b------” — followed by more than a dozen tweets on the issue, the protests in the NFL had dwindled to just a handful of players. He reignited the movement, so to speak, and prompted previously silent NFL owners to engage.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is considering a demonstration before this weekend’s game against the New England Patriots in Foxbrough, Mass. — where kneeling Patriots players were booed Sunday. Panthers players did virtually nothing before last Sunday’s game to react to Trump or protest otherwise, with the exception of defensive end Julius Peppers, who remained in the locker room during the anthem.
Yet after meeting with team owner Jerry Richardson, along with other team captains, Newton is apparently now moved to consider some type of gesture. Better late than never?
“The time is upon us to do something to bring people closer together,” Newton declared during a news conference Wednesday.
That sounds like Newton is on board with the unity theme, as opposed to a more radical stance more closely aligned with Kaepernick’s original message. And if Newton’s gesture comes before the anthem — which Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones conclud- ed as an ideal compromise before Monday night’s game at Arizona as he knelt with his players — it might be viewed as more palatable to the masses.
We’ll see. Newton has clearly demonstrated a consciousness on racially tinged matters in the past. After a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans at a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015, Newton visited to comfort families of victims.
As the national conversation flowed from Kaepernick, though, he’s been largely silent.
Now he’s like so many other NFL players, considering their actions moving forward. The protests last weekend were seemingly more of a response to the attacks from Trump’s bashing of the character of NFL players, rather than a stand for social justice.
No doubt, as many players contended, they protested on the grounds of social issues.
Yet if that was the driving force, they should not have needed Trump’s fuel. But Trump suddenly made protesting so much more fashionable for NFL players.
“I feel like that was a clear shot at Trump, sitting on our knee like that,” Dallas receiver Dez Bryant told reporters on Monday night after the Cowboys knelt with their arms locked before the anthem, then stood for the anthem. “He just can’t do that, that’s super disrespectful, and we showed great unity tonight and that was what that was for.”
As well-intentioned as that was, the point was always so much bigger than Trump.