Colin Kaepernick and the NFL protests continue to be the talk of the nation, but now it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Donald Trump launched a sensational attack on NFL players who have kneeled in protest of the national anthem during a speech in Alabama Sept. 22, challenging the league’s owners to fire anyone who engages in the movement started last year by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” the president said at a campaign rally. Trump also said that “You know, some owner is going to do that. He’s going to say, ‘That guy that disrespects our flag, he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it but they’ll be the most popular person in this country.”
Trump helped amplify our NFL protests with his bombastic comments. For one Sunday at least, he helped unify the NFL, its owners and players as hundreds of them protested in some manner during the national anthem, essentially giving Trump the middle finger.
Trump’s statements were reminiscent of Massa on the slave plantations. Not a president. When the slaves, in this instance the NFL players, got too uppity, Massa would threaten them.
In this instance, Trump must have thought he was a modern-day Massa in Alabama and forgot that the NFL is over 70 percent black and the players aren’t slaves.
Those players and many of the team owners defied Massa Trump. But it basically proved that Kaepernick is unemployed because he decided to stand for injustice.
In this case, many activists including, this writer, are now outraged with the intentional attempt to change the narrative. Kaepernick and many of his supporters have stated publicly that we respect our flag and the military.
It’s our veterans who have protected our country. Many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice giving their lives in service to our nation. Our protests have been an attempt to draw attention to the unjust killings of black men, women and children by police nationwide.
Now all the sudden everyone is jumping on bandwagon with their own agenda. The players kneeling now weren’t there for Kaepernick when he needed them most. They are only kneeling now because Trump said they should be fired and the NFL billionaire owners bottom line is money.
The owners could care less about Kaepernick, black people and our issues. They only care about making more money.
The NFL has lost $200 million in revenues, the networks must give advertisers back money for falling ratings. That’s why the owners are now acting like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the sidelines locking arms with players, who are doing what the owners say so they can keep that paycheck coming in.
The NFL is still nothing but a modern-day plantation while Kaepernick continues to be treated as if he was a runaway slave.
Kaepernick is the true patriot. He shined a national spotlight on police abuse. The NFL owners had to be talked about by Trump to take a knee. But black people and people of color being unjustly slaughtered in the streets by police wasn’t enough?
At the end of the day, we are wining our NFL boycott. If we continue to negatively impact the NFL revenue. we have power. When the NFL loses millions of dollars, they lose power money, which in turn causes them to lose power thus, putting them on the defensive and that’s exactly where we want them.
The NFL will be forced to address our concerns and issues. The NFL owners and players took a knee because they were mad at Trump. Kap took a knee because blacks and people of color were being killed. I stand with Kaepernick.
For news tips, email Brothernajeeali@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter@Najeeali.
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