The NFL regular season hasnt even started and already the President has lashed out against player protests and put puppet master pressure on the owners to somehow force the players to stand during the national anthem.
The players have responded by taking knees, staying in the locker room during the anthem and raising a fist, which has only fueled the ongoing contentiousness between owners and players, as well as among, teams, their fans, and communities.
The New Republic on Twitter
Trump has revived his campaign against black NFL players who protest racial injustice. https://t.co/N6MM4epknz
Some players are steadfast in trying to continue the fight and recapture Colin Kaepernick’s original narrative which was always about bringing awareness to police brutality and racial and social injustice.
The Hill on Twitter
NFL player blasts Trump for condemning national anthem protests but not white supremacist rally https://t.co/vEi8GLs9KM
I think it’s important that we continue to keep the conversation going and don’t let it get stagnant, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback and Players Coalition head Malcolm Jenkins told reporters. While everyone waits to see what the league is going to do, that doesn’t mean we stop what we been standing up for. It’s just my personal decision to make sure that we keep these things on the forefront.
Others have been flustered and beaten down by the twisted narratives, misinterpretations and racially motivated attacks. Those guys are just tired of talking about a movement which seemed to be almost dead at the end of last season and then was reinvigorated when NFL owners started talking junk and tried to institute a tougher, universal anthem policy, which the league later recanted.
Eagles cornerback De’vante Bausby is one of those players. He’s so frustrated by the misled reactions to the protests that he has very few words.
Whats already understood doesn’t need to be explained, Bausby said on told ESPN. Yall know whats going on so I don’t really need to elaborate on what’s going on. You clearly see
Kaepernicks movement is still breathing and you can see the larger effects throughout sports social landscape, but it appears to be moving in all sorts of directions, with no singular goal which has made it easily hijackable by the opposition.
FOX & friends on Twitter
ANTHEM OUTRAGE! President Trump says NFL players who don’t stand for the anthem should be suspended without pay after protests during the first preseason game https://t.co/opYGWbZKpY
A first step in mending fences according to Miami wide receiver Kenny Stills is the league admitting to foul play and collusion. Stills doesnt see a resolution or an end to protests until the NFL acknowledges its mistreatment of Kaepernick and the players who have been kept out of the league and victimized and criticized for supporting him.
Colin Kaepernick on Twitter
Stills said, “But I think a good first step 4 us as a league would be acknowledging what they’re doing 2 Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid. You can’t say as a league that you support the players and the protest and then blackball the players that initially started the protest.”
This problem is not going away. The NFL is in a sunken place. They hoped by changing the policy in May that it wouldnt be an issue as we entered the season. Now the league has to re-engage with the player’s association to find a path forward, but there is no conceivable or amicable destination if the league continues to have an anthem policy, regardless of how they adjust the language. Protests appear necessary but from the small number of players willing to demonstrate before games in the preseason, Trump is winning to an extent.
COMMON on Twitter
James Baldwin breaks down why @Kaepernick7’s courageous protest against injustice is being characterized as criminal and unpatriotic. https://t.co/4VrSBzWIRK
Here are 3 Things NFL Players Can Do To Reinvigorate Player Protest Movement
Get Kaep Back On Track
1. Get Colin Kaepernick to take a more visible, leadership position in all matters. Kaepernick is the OG of the movement, he ignited the flame that sparked a player revolution and he is the best person to articulate the needs of the players and the direction of the movement. Instead of tweeting out his support, he needs to be front and center in public. When he speaks, everyone has a heightened legitimacy.
Phil on Twitter
@Montel_Williams @FoxNews @RealDrGina A mockery of your military? are you serious? those who served sacrificed their lives for this very right to peacefully protest. That is why @Kaepernick7 is my Twitter background, because racism is a massive issue, and those who just don’t get it. https://t.co/Zg9L0A4Hyj
Once Kaepernick fell into the background and the NFL started blackballing him, the message got lost a bit and it has also hurt the credibility of the movement in the eyes of some of the people who equate kneeling with the absurd notion of disrespecting the flag. Nothing has changed in the last three centuries when it comes to war. A king who leads the charge and fights with his subjects in battle rather than sit on his throne and hope for the best is always the most respected, effective and inspirational.
One Mind, One Message
2. The players need to meet more frequently and decide on a universal course of action. There’s a divide among the players about how to attack protesting and the value of it. Reid showed us as much when he napalmed the Player’s Coalition $89 million deal with NFL owners. You have superstars such as Ezekiel Elliott succumbing to the oppressive threats of ownership and saying that he wont kneel for the anthem, which distorts the original narrative even further and ignores the sacrifices of Kaepernick, Eric Reid, and others.
Ignore Trump
3. I didnt agree with the theory at first, but now I believe that the players shouldn’t respond to President Trump’s self-serving, inflammatory and instigative tweets. Responding to Trump only gives him power and credibility. Show the world that he may be President but he doesn’t control the NFL or the players. Trump’s words wont be acknowledged because hes not qualified nor capable of adding any positive insight, clarity or resolution to the situation.
