If I asked you to guess what America’s favorite sport is what would you say? Let me give you a hint: It ain’t baseball. In 2015 “26 of the top 27 programs were professional football games. With only the first Republican primary debate interrupting the dominance with an appearance at No. 13,” says USA Today. The irony in that is ridiculously funny. Basically, millions of Americans, many of which flag waving, gun toting Republicans, tune in to watch an invigorating game of the NFL every Sunday (during the season of course). I’m pretty sure all of you know what’s going on with Colin Kaepernick. If you don’t, a brief synopsis is that he’s an NFL quarterback who got fed up with police brutality and decided to sit (and later kneel) during the national anthem. People got mad, nobody will sign him, and now he’s out of a job.
I had a hard time wrapping my mind around how people can justify their outrage toward Kaepernick because the WHOLE POINT of peaceful protest is disrupting a situation to raise awareness. The truth is, NFL consumers don’t want to be reminded of how awful black people are treated when they are just trying to sit down with a cold beer and be entertained. Many used the argument that his protest was disrespectful to the American Troops…(blinks). How Sway??? There are thousands of people in the hallway buying hotdogs during the anthem, and millions of Americans don’t even know the words! I was talking to a United States Army Veteran and he told me that him and his fellow troops used to actually RUN inside a building when they heard the anthem being played because they didn’t feel like saluting. Apparently if you were outside when it was being played you had to drop everything and salute. So…. If ACTUAL U.S. Army troops didn’t want to salute out of selfishness, why are we mad at Colin Kaepernick for kneeling for a purpose?
If people were really honest with themselves, they would admit this has nothing to do with disrespecting our troops but everything to do with not wanting to be reminded that the U.S. is not always great for everybody. It is absolutely disgusting to me that the NFL is 70% black yet the players are not allowed to have a voice. Sure, they make a TON of money, probably more than they should, but they are picked over, sized up, and put on display for “our” entertainment. If these black players are unable to use this great platform to speak for the other black men being discriminated against in the workplace, gunned down in the streets, and feared by passersby, who will?
I find it funny that celebrities are allowed to speak about cancer, autism, and world hunger, but as soon as a stance is taken on discrimination against black people there’s a problem. What’s the difference?
Black people might not own this country now, but we literally built it on our backs, and now we are keeping it rich with football. The average team is worth $2.3 billion, and who makes up the majority of the players? Black men. I know you might feel like the image I used of the slave auction is a stretch, but at the end of the day, it’s the same thing but now it’s two-fold. These black men are enslaved to white team owners, as well as enslaved to the money they now possess. It’s a shame that more players are not kneeling with Kaepernick knowing that as soon as they walk off the field and get in their fancy cars, they are just seen as thugs.
I often hear how stupid it is to talk about a problem without presenting a solution. I’ve been seeing a lot of people wanting to stop watching the NFL if Colin doesn’t get signed. While I totally support the idea, I feel like a greater impact would be made if we could convince all the black players to sit out for 3 consecutive games.
The NFL made $13 billion in profit last year. Two thirds of the NFL’s money comes from Television. So, if we stop watching, we will hit them where it hurts. But let’s be honest, if the games are on you are still going to have a good amount of people watching. So, I feel like the players should sit out that way we can be certain nobody will watch AND everybody from the NFL Commissioner to the average Joe on their couch will understand the value of these black bodies on the football field.
Side Note: Did you know that until last year the NFL was a Non-Profit organization? Same as say… Autism Speaks or the American Cancer Society… just let that sink in.
(Sigh) Make America Great Again.
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