The NFL Recently Released It's New Rules Against Kneeling During the National Anthem. Could It Be Considered An Anti-Black Thing?

Colin Kaepernick started his silent protest of police brutality against Black people in August 2016.  He chose to kneel during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. He was protesting the social injustices against African Americans.  Unarmed African Americans were and are repeatedly being shot and killed by police officers.  He was the lone protester for this cause in the NFL. 

Kaepernick was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft to play backup Quarterback.  In the NFL 2012 season, he was given the No. 1 Quarterback position.  The 49ers, led by Kaepernick, met Ray Lewis and the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans.  Though his numbers were impressive, he and former 49ers quarterback Joe Montana are the only two signal callers to pass for more than 300 yards and run for more than 50 in a Super Bowl, they lost the game.  As first appearance at a Super Bowl goes, Kaepernick was being praised for his showmanship at his first Super Bowl.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, he became a free agent.  Early March 2017, he opt out of his contract.  49ers head office said they would have released Kaepernick if he did not opt out.  As of this date, May 28, 2018, Kaepernick still does not have a team.  No NFL team wants to sign him to a contract.  So, he still sits out while he gets older and therefore moves further away from ever playing professional football again.

NFL players are the most vulnerable professional athletes of the three major sports.  NBA and MLB players have guaranteed contracts. An NBA player who signs for four years at $40 million will be paid the entirety of that contract, even if released by the team.  An NFL player who signs a similar four-year, $40 million contract with a signing bonus but who is released at any point after that, is owed no salary beyond his release.  Their contracts are not guaranteed for their salary, just the signing bonus.  That includes some veteran players; they receive no salary beyond their last season.  This means that an NFL player can quickly lose his livelihood. He understands that protesting can impact his earnings and career.  This undoubtedly could be the reason why some Black NFLers are not joining the protest.  Positions and job prospects are not aplenty in the NFL.

The U.S. flag code’s “Respect for Flag” section (Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8) lists the dos and don’ts for respecting the American flag−neither kneeling nor standing during the national anthem is included under the section.

The NFL has been political for an extended number of years.  In 1961, the NFL won political victory when they triumphed over lawmakers when the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 was passed giving them a limited exemption from antitrust law.  Now they would be able to collectively negotiate national television contracts.  This victory turned the NFL into America’s richest and most powerful sports league.  The NFL is now like crack cocaine to its fans.

The players have not committed the sin of introducing politics into football. Their sin is to be Black men talking about politics when the NFL wants them to shut up and entertain.  It looks and feel like minstrel times only the Black face is not paint.

How effective is protesting?

In the history of America, there has only been 7 times where protest saw change.  One notable protest that saw change was Selma, March 9, 1965.  Civil rights leaders attempted a march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery on March 7, 1965, but they were brutally attacked by state troopers and forced to retreat.  On March 21^st , the activists’ third try, they marched with the National Guard for protection and President Lyndon B. Johnson’s support.  They made it!  The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson that August, protecting Black voters from suppression and discrimination.  The new law is still considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history.

April 2016, in North Dakota, the largest Native American protest in history was unfolding. People band together to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.  Thousands of people stood together in solidarity trying to force the public to notice the government’s injustice in trying to disrupt the sacred Native American sites and burial grounds and risks polluting a major water source.  In the end, the Army Corps of Engineers put plans for the Dakota Access Pipeline on hold while it explores alternate routes.

Perhaps you cannot surely conclude that the Dakota Access Pipeline was a 100% success.  There’s still time for the government to strike again with their injustice plan.

 

The NFL has allegedly tried to use their mega power to steer money away from certain federal government-sponsored studies into head trauma and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).  CTE is a degenerative brain disease that has been found in dozens of deceased football players.  This includes Aaron Hernandez.  Again, the NFL displaying they lack empathy for minorities and it’s players.

Are we experiencing camouflaged Racial Oppression?

ThoughtCo.com writes in its’ article Definition of Social Oppression that, “In the U.S. and many other countries around the world oppression has become institutionalized, which means it is built into how our social institutions operate. This means that oppression is so common and normal that it does not require conscious discrimination or overt acts of oppression to achieve its ends. This does not mean that conscious and overt acts do not occur, but rather, that a system of oppression can operate without them because the oppression itself has become camouflaged within the various aspects of society.”

Instead of resolving an issue, the NFL seems to have doubled down against Black players and their rights to protest.  There is no compromise included in these new rules.  Here is the exact wording of the league’s policy, as written in a formal statement from commissioner Roger Goodell:

1.  All team and league personnel on the field shall stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.

2.  The Game Operations Manual will be revised to remove the requirement that all players be on the field for the Anthem.

3.  Personnel who choose not to stand for the Anthem may stay in the locker room or in a similar location off the field until after the Anthem has been performed.

4.  A club will be fined by the League if its personnel are on the field and do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.

5.  Each club may develop its own work rules, consistent with the above principles, regarding its personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.

6.  The Commissioner will impose appropriate discipline on league personnel who do not stand and show respect for the flag and the Anthem.

What if all Black NFL players risk their livelihood and sit in the dressing room or take a knee while the national anthem is being played?  Can they all be fined for as long as it takes for the rules to change?  The boycott that was spearheaded after Rosa Parks chose not to relinquish her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 5, 1955, lasted almost one year.  Eventually, the bus company started losing money -- 75 percent of it’s riders were Black working people.  Violence ensued against Blacks (because that’s what hate looks like.)  On November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery’s segregation laws are unconstitutional.

Black people at that time were passionate about their rights in this country.  Are we no longer passionate about justice?  Does selfless mean self-destruction?  Black people need to stand for something or we will never stand for anything.

©2018 Radiance Smith (aka Radiance Lite)