When I suggested that Roger Goodell make an executive order to reinstate Colin Kaepernick on the day of George Floyd’s memorial, people basically laughed in my face.
Their reasoning was that Goodell worked for the owners who are too far gone in their racially-motivated practices to allow him to do that. In other words, Goodell is a shill for the owners and will never make a decision based on what is in his heart.
For some adversaries of the movement, it almost sounded liberating that in the midst of global uprising against police brutality and social injustice, the NFL would remain the last bastion of oppression and continue to refuse to at least acknowledge the problem.
After several NFL players posted a video basically demanding the NFL owners to start listening to the concerns of the players, rather than ignore their pleas for justice and in the aftermath of racially insensitive and delusional comments by Drew Brees and Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, Goodell has finally spoken on the issue.
In fact, he gave a formal apology to the players for ignoring their voices during the Colin Kaepernick saga and every time after. Goodell can’t change the fact that he was collusive in the owners’ blackballing of Kaepernick, but he appears ready to be a true commissioner and champion the rights of the African-American players whose talents allow him to make millions.
Roger Goodell and the NFL say they "were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest” @brgridiron
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/jyRJv5pGnI
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 5, 2020
This comes as a huge surprise to most fans, as Goodell has tried to stay in the middle and out of the beef between the players, the owners and Kaepernick. The fact that he has admitted to failing the players and promised to be more attentive to their concerns going forward is another huge victory for the people of this country who have protested in the hundreds of thousands for justice for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality.
Kudos to Goodell for standing up and refusing to let his legacy be decided by 32 owners who prefer oppression to unity.
