During a rally in Alabama held by #45, a part of his speech was directed to athletes kneeling during the national anthem. While expressing his disgust at the act, 45 not only call them “sons of bitches” but also called for the immediate firing of any and all players who kneeled.
This language was striking in that in contrast to speaking on white supremacists in Charlottesville, where 45 had nothing but the opposite to say, referring to them as “nice people”. This rally caused an uproar and not for the right reasons, which is to bring awareness to the injustices faced by African Americans in this country.
The following Sunday, thirty of the thirty-two teams that played that day had not only a majority of the players kneeling, but even a few owners coming from their boxes to show a united front with their players. Owners such as Shad Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons, Jeffrey Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles to name a few, stood with their arms linked with their players and coaching staff. Some owners, like Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys went so far as to actually kneel, with their players. Teams like the Seattle Seahawks and the Tennessee Titans did not come from the locker room until the anthem was over.
I have an issue with this so called “unity”: the majority of players, and all of the owners kneeling were not showing unity in support of Colin Kaepernick and his original message. Originally choosing to sit on the bench prior to kneeling, Kaepernick always had a very specific, very poignant, very real reason for his protest: to bring to light the injustices happening to African Americans in this country. When asked the reasoning of his protest, Kaepernick clearly states “ I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” Those kneeling Sunday, save a few (Martellus Bennett, Arian Foster, and Jelani Jenkins to name some of the few who kneeled with Kaepernick and supported his protest) were kneeling because as commentator and former tight end Shannon Sharpe said “The owners don’t like being told what to do,” and that 45s words were “an attack on the NFL shield which must be protected at all cost.” The “disappointment” commissioner Roger Goodell expressed in an official statement and the owners who interlocked arms or kneeled Sunday were more outraged that 45 came for the institution of the NFL, not outraged about injustices faced by black people in this nation.
The very owners we saw kneeling on Sunday were some of 45s biggest and most generous donors, each giving roughly a million dollars to his campaign. Owners such Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, Dan Synder of the Washington Redskins, Shad Khan of the Jacksonville Jaguars to name a few gave 45’s campaign roughly a million dollars each. Each of the aforementioned owners, save for Kraft, put up a “united front” against 45 and his harsh words in Alabama. Robert Kraft released an official statement stating he was “deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the president.”
On Sunday, we saw some of Kaepernick’s toughest critics “take a stand.” LeSean McCoy and Ray Lewis being two that stuck out. McCoy, who when commenting on Kaepernick stated, “I think his situation is not good enough to have him on the team with all the attention that comes along with it.” On Sunday, McCoy surpassed kneeling by going so far as to conduct stretches during the anthem. Lewis got down on not one, but two knees that Sunday. This, after he sat on national television and aggressively called out Kaepernick saying that it was disrespectful to kneel during the national anthem, and that Lewis could never do such a thing because he had family members who served in the army. This is the same Ray Lewis who happily went to Trump Towers and visited with 45 and wanted it to be known he “wasn’t a bad guy,” so to see Lewis take this opportunity and kneel on not one but two knees came across more as a publicity stunt than him having a change of heart.
This act of “unity” conducted Sunday has now managed to shift the narrative. The story is no longer players kneeling in protest of a country that glosses over the oppression of African Americans and other people of color. Now the message has changed to protesting 45’s shot at the institution of the NFL. It’s become these wealthy white men showing 45 that not even he can tell them what to do, especially when it may come at a cost to their wallets. This act undermines Kaepernick’s cause, and that is what’s unacceptable. Because if the NFL commissioner and the owners who came from their air-conditioned boxes to hook arms and kneel in “solidarity” with the actual message Kaepernick was trying to convey, Colin Kaepernick would be playing today.
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