My Father Died in Afghanistan, and I Support Colin Kaepernick

[muckraker10021]

My Father Died in Afghanistan, and I Support Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick, right, and Eric Reid kneeling during the national anthem before an N.F.L. game

by Eric Reid | Sept. 27 2017 | https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/colin-kaepernick-football-protests.html


In early 2016, I began paying attention to reports about the incredible number of unarmed black people being killed by the police. The posts on social media deeply disturbed me, but one in particular brought me to tears: the killing of Alton Sterling in my hometown Baton Rouge, La. This could have happened to any of my family members who still live in the area. I felt furious, hurt and hopeless. I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what or how to do it. All I knew for sure is that I wanted it to be as respectful as possible.

A few weeks later, during preseason, my teammate Colin Kaepernick chose to sit on the bench during the national anthem to protest police brutality. To be honest, I didn’t notice at the time, and neither did the news media. It wasn’t until after our third preseason game on Aug. 26, 2016, that his protest gained national attention, and the backlash against him began.

That’s when my faith moved me to take action. I looked to James 2:17, which states, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” I knew I needed to stand up for what is right.

I approached Colin the Saturday before our next game to discuss how I could get involved with the cause but also how we could make a more powerful and positive impact on the social justice movement. We spoke at length about many of the issues that face our community, including systemic oppression against people of color, police brutality and the criminal justice system. We also discussed how we could use our platform, provided to us by being professional athletes in the N.F.L., to speak for those who are voiceless.

After hours of careful consideration, and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former N.F.L. player, we came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, the next day during the anthem as a peaceful protest. We chose to kneel because it’s a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy.

It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag and military personnel. We chose it because it’s exactly the opposite. It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest.

It should go without saying that I love my country and I’m proud to be an American. But, to quote James Baldwin, “exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

I can’t find words that appropriately express how heartbroken I am to see the constant smears against Colin, a person who helped start the movement with only the very best of intentions. We are talking about a man who helped to orchestrate a commercial planeful of food and supplies for famine-stricken Somalia. A man who has invested his time and money into needy communities here at home. A man I am proud to call my brother, who should be celebrated for his courage to seek change on important issues. Instead, to this day, he is unemployed and portrayed as a radical un-American who wants to divide our country.

Anybody who has a basic knowledge of football knows that his unemployment has nothing to do with his performance on the field. It’s a shame that the league has turned its back on a man who has done only good. I am aware that my involvement in this movement means that my career may face the same outcome as Colin’s. But to quote the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And I choose not to betray those who are being oppressed.

I have too often seen our efforts belittled with statements like “He should have listened to the officer,” after watching an unarmed black person get shot, or “There is no such thing as white privilege” and “Racism ended years ago.” We know that racism and white privilege are both very much alive today.

And it’s disheartening and infuriating that President Trump has referred to us with slurs but the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., as “very fine people.” His remarks are a clear attempt to deepen the rift that we’ve tried so hard to mend.

I am nevertheless encouraged to see my colleagues and other public figures respond to the president’s remarks with solidarity with us. It is paramount that we take control of the story behind our movement, which is that we seek equality for all Americans, no matter their race or gender.

What we need now is numbers. Some people acknowledge the issues we face yet remain silent bystanders. Not only do we need more of our fellow black and brown Americans to stand with us, but also people of other races.

I refuse to be one of those people who watches injustices yet does nothing. I want to be a man my children and children’s children can be proud of, someone who faced adversity and tried to make a positive impact on the world, a person who, 50 years from now, is remembered for standing for what was right, even though it was not the popular or easy choice.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/19/us/police-videos-race.html

LET US NOT FORGET WHY COLIN KAEPERNICK
TOOK A KNEE IN THE FIRST PLACE
CAC COPS ARE KILLING BLACK MEN SYSTEMATICALLY WITH
0% CONSEQUENCES FOR THEIR MURDEROUS ACTIONS
It doesn't matter if the murders are captured on video
CAC AMERIKKKA doesn't give a damn, its just dead NIĢĢERS who
TRUMP says are all "SONS OF BITCHES"

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/19/us/police-videos-race.html

The Raw Videos That Have Sparked
Outrage Over Police Treatment of Blacks
By DAMIEN CAVE and ROCHELLE OLIVER UPDATED - AUGUST 17, 2017

Raw video has thoroughly shaken American policing. Grainy images of questionable police behavior, spread through social media, have led to nationwide protests, federal investigations and changes in policy and attitudes on race.

“A lot of white people are truly shocked by what these videos depict; I know very few African-Americans who are surprised,” said Paul D. Butler, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former prosecutor. “The videos are smoking-gun evidence,” he added, “both literally because they are very graphic, which generates outrage, and figuratively, because people believe their own eyes.”

These videos include graphic scenes of violence.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/19/us/police-videos-race.html

 

[QueEx]

It baffles me that our protest is still being misconstrued as disrespectful to the country, flag and military personnel.

It has always been my understanding that the brave men and women who fought and died for our country did so to ensure that we could live in a fair and free society, which includes the right to speak out in protest.

Don't Let "Agent Orange" re-define tweet-define the issue.

LET US NOT FORGET WHY COLIN KAEPERNICK
TOOK A KNEE IN THE FIRST PLACE

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[QueEx]

The NFL is not a 'safe space'


William Falk

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
September 29, 2017


This is the editor’s letter in the current issue of The Weekmagazine.

The Founders of this nation were a radical bunch. Only true revolutionaries would dare to enshrine freedom of speech as the very first, and most fundamental, constitutional right.

Human beings don't find it natural to tolerate views we find threatening or offensive; when people upset or challenge us, our instinct is to make them shut the hell up. For people in power, that temptation is nearly irresistible.

This is why the first act of every tyrant is to suppress dissent — and why the First Amendment has always been fragile, especially in times of national crisis. In the current crisis, threats to free speech are coming from both the left and the right. Leftist inquisitors have turned college campuses and insular liberal communities into "safe spaces" where "hate speech" — and even mainstream conservative ideas — are impermissible. Violators are banned, fired, and silenced by any means necessary. "Shut it down!" is these righteous censors' rallying cry.


Now it is President Trump who is shouting, "Shut it down." He doesn't think African-American NFL players should be "allowed" to kneel during the national anthem as a political protest, and is demanding the league fire them. His stance requires a certain lack of self-awareness, given that Trump

• began his political career by saying deliberately outrageous and offensive things — insisting, for example, that former Vietnam POW Sen. John McCain was no war hero, because he was taken captive (loser!), and ​

• that the then-sitting president was a foreign-born Muslim impostor with no legal right to the office. ​

In certain countries whose authoritarian leaders Trump admires, [the Philippines, for one] such impertinence can get you hauled off to a gulag, or your head chopped off by a hooded executioner with a scimitar. Look: Free speech can be very upsetting. But honoring everyone's right to speak is the only hope we have of seeing anything from another point of view. Let's deal with it, and stop acting like a nation of snowflakes.


http://theweek.com/articles/727551/nfl-not-safe-space


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[QueEx]

Pitt kicker Ian Troost kneels for national anthem

For the past several weeks, and even going back to last year, Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi had been asked about the wave of player protests during the national anthem and how he may handle such a situation if it ever arrived on his proverbial doorstep.

Something that once existed as a hypothetical and a thought experiment became an unavoidable reality Saturday.

As the Pitt band played ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ prior to the team’s 12 p.m. kickoff against No. 20 NC State, Ian Troost, the Panthers’ third-string kicker, dropped his right knee to the Heinz Field turf as teammate Jaryd Jones-Smith stood next to him on the sideline, placing his hand on Troost’s right shoulder in support.

It was a relatively brief but charged moment in an increasingly polarized country, an act that, at least locally, has thrust a previously little-known specialist into a larger ongoing debate about pressing social issues that continue to engulf the nation.

Though Narduzzi said he and Troost didn’t previously speak about the topic, he supports the junior walk-on and his freedom to express his beliefs.

“Our guys have First Amendment rights and freedom of speech,” he said following the game. “I’m never going to tell a guy he can’t do something. What we’ve talked about is if you’re going to do that and try to make a statement, we’re going to stick together. Someone had their hand on his shoulder, saying ‘Hey, we’re with you.’ Everybody’s got their deal. I know I’m going to stand and put my hand over my heart and give everybody their option of what they want to do.”

Troost is in his first season with the team, having joined the program in the spring as a walk-on. Previously, he was one of several students who served as the university’s “Roc the Panther” mascot. The 21-year-old native of Portsmouth, N.H. transferred to Pitt from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, where he played soccer. As the backup to the team’s backup kicker, he does not travel with the Panthers for road games, but does dress for home contests.


Troost’s decision to kneel comes nearly 14 months after then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat during the anthem before a preseason game, later explaining to a reporter that he did so because he did not want to “stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” He later opted to kneel, a compromise he reached after a conversation with former Green Beret and long snapper Nate Boyer.

Some of Troost’s teammates said they heard murmurs he may protest while others didn’t know he had such plans. They all, however, had his proverbial back.

“Coach knows that’s our right as individuals and humans to express ourselves in any way we want,” offensive lineman Brian O’Neill said. “It’s good to have a coach who supports that. He wants us to be able to talk about that and be able to move forward and not make it a distraction. If dialogue is needed to be engaged in, we need to be able to talk about it. He has my full support in doing whatever it is he feels like he should do. He chose to do this. There’s nothing that’s distracting about it. It’s business as usual.”


At a television break early in the third quarter, Pitt had military members from Operation Homefront, a non-profit organization dedicated to building stable and secure military families, take the field to be honored. Though the kneeling that started with Kaepernick was a protest against police brutality and racial inequality – not against the nation’s military – Troost stood with several of his teammates and applauded as the soldiers were introduced.


Pitt officials declined interview requests with Troost, citing a policy that players who didn’t appear in a given game don’t speak with the media. Additionally, Jones-Smith was not made available for questions following Pitt’s 35-17 loss.

Although he supports his teammate’s right, Panthers cornerback Avonte Maddox believes more can be done to address the topic of such protests beyond kneeling.

“If you really want to get out, do something about it in the real world and do things that we can do to make actual change, not just 30 seconds of fame and making a statement out there,” Maddox said. “Is that really going to help us? It’s a person’s decision. It’s his decision and I’m with it. If you want to take a knee, I will stand by you and I’ll put my hand on your shoulder and I’ll support you 100 percent because you have an opinion, you expressed it and I feel where you’re coming from.”

When asked about Jones-Smith’s show of solidarity, Maddox later added he would have done the same if he were next to Troost.

While examples of players protesting are readily available in the NFL, they’re much sparser in the college game, in part because many teams stay in the locker room during the anthem (Pitt, since Narduzzi’s first season in 2015, stands on the field as the song is played). Prior to a Sept. 2016 game against Northwestern, three Nebraska players knelt during the anthem. That same week, players from both Michigan and Michigan State (where Narduzzi was a defensive coordinator from 2007-14) raised fists in the air while standing for the anthem.

Perhaps the most prominent and controversial instance of a demonstrating player came earlier this month when Gyree Durante, a backup quarterback at Division III Albright College in Reading, Pa., was dismissed from the team for kneeling before a game. The team, according to the school, had previously made a decision to kneel for the coin toss but stand for the anthem.

Any similar action at Pitt, based on Narduzzi’s prior comments, seems implausible, as his public statements on the topic have been consistent for the past 13 months.

“You’ve just got to make sure you’re educated in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it,” Narduzzi said in Sept. 2016. “I think that’s the important thing. You can never tell a kid, ‘Hey, I think that’s stupid. Don’t do that,’ because it’s their choice and it’s their freedom. I’ve lived in one home every few years and moved to a different home in a different area. Everybody’s got their thoughts. I can understand why guys feel the way they do.”

Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG Brian Batko contributed.



http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...sburgh-college-football/stories/201710140115\


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[QueEx]

LET US NOT FORGET WHY COLIN KAEPERNICK
TOOK A KNEE IN THE FIRST PLACE
CAC COPS ARE KILLING BLACK MEN SYSTEMATICALLY WITH
0% CONSEQUENCES FOR THEIR MURDEROUS ACTIONS
It doesn't matter if the murders are captured on video
CAC AMERIKKKA doesn't give a damn, its just dead NI66ERS who
TRUMP says are all "SONS OF BITCHES"

Kaepernick Vows to Continue Combating Racial Injustice 'With or Without the NFL'

© Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images


After he accepted Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he will continue combating racial injustice in America whether or not he returns to the NFL.

"I say this as a person who receives credit for using my platform to protest systemic oppression, racialized injustice and and the dire consequences of anti-blackness in America," Kaepernick said at SI's Sportsperson of the Year ceremony at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

"I accept this award not for myself, but on behalf of the people. Because if it were not for my love of the people, I would not have protested. And if it was not for the support from the people, I would not be on this stage today.

"With our without the NFL's platform, I will continue to work for the people because my platform is the people."

The Daily Show host Trevor Noah introduced Kaepernick before Beyoncé took to the stage to hand him the award. Beyoncé said that Kaepernick's message was not to protest those who serve selflessly to defend the nation, but to draw attention to the work that still needs to be done in terms of race relations.

Kaepernick sparked a national debate when he began refusing to stand during the national anthem in September 2016 to protest racial inequality and police brutality in America. A number of NFL players voiced their support for Kaepernick, who has been praised by his supporters for encouraging athletes to use their platform for social justice.

Kaepernick's actions have been criticized by those who view his decision to protest during the anthem as a sign of disrespect toward the military or the nation as a whole. One of those critics has been the President of the United States.

President Donald Trump breathed new life into the anthem protest debate in September of this year when he suggested that NFL owners should "fire" players who protest and suggested they say "Get that son of a b---- off the field." NFL owners, players and the commissioner condemned the President's comments, and widespread demonstrations were made during the anthem before Week 3 games.

Despite throwing for 16 touchdowns and four interceptions in 2016, and despite a stated desire to play, Kaepernick remains a free agent. Multiple long-term injuries to quarterbacks have resulted in a number of quarterbacks with less impressive NFL resumes than Kaepernick's being signed, and there is some belief that he remains unsigned because of his social activism on and off the football field.

J.J. Watt and Jose Altuve were honored at the event as joint recipients of SI's Sportsperson of the Year award for their efforts on the field and in aiding Houston's recovery from Hurricane Harvey. Carlos Beltran was given the Hope Award for his work to help his home island of Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria. Rounding out the night's awards were Maya Moore, who won the Perfromer of the Year award, and Joel Embiid, who was given the Rising Star award.

You can watch Kaepernick's speech in full, as well as remarks from each of the other winners, when the ceremony is televised on Friday night at 8 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nf...the-nfl/ar-BBGhvIF?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

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[QueEx]

Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick

The former quarterback caused a problem for the league—which turned to the celebrated rapper for assistance.

AUG 15, 2019



Jemele Hill
Staff writer for The Atlantic

USA TODAY SPORTS / REUTERS
Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.


I assume neither Goodell nor Jay-Z expected to be on the defensive once the NFL announced that it would give Roc Nation, the music mogul’s entertainment company, significant power in choosing the performers for the league’s signature events—including the coveted Super Bowl halftime show. Jay-Z and Roc Nation will also help augment the NFL’s social-justice initiatives by developing content and spaces where players can speak about the issues that concern them.


This wasn’t just another routine example of Jay-Z living out a lyric he’d rapped nearly 15 years ago—“I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man!” Instead, the rapper faced questions yesterday about why he chose to collaborate with the same league that he’d publicly criticized for its treatment of Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback who hasn’t had an NFL job since taking a knee during the national anthem three years ago to protest police brutality and racial injustice. This is the same Jay-Z who showed support for Kaepernick by wearing his jersey on Saturday Night Live. On his megahit song “Apeshit,” Jay-Z rapped this lyric: “Once I said no to the Super Bowl: You need me, I don’t need you. Every night we in the end zone. Tell the NFL we in stadiums too.”


Now he’s in business with the league.

Kaepernick’s girlfriend, Nessa Diab, wrote on Twitter that Kaepernick didn’t speak with Jay-Z before he brokered his deal with the NFL. Jay-Z said yesterday that he spoke to Kaepernick on Monday, but he wouldn’t divulge how their conversation went.

Jemele Hill: Kaepernick won. The NFL lost.

A source close to Kaepernick, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, told me, “It was not a good conversation.”

But it was all smiles yesterday between Jay-Z and Goodell.

“We don’t want people to come in and necessarily agree with us; we want people to come in and tell us what we can do better,” Goodell said at the press conference. “I think that’s a core element of our relationship between the two organizations, and with Jay and I personally.”

The financial arrangements have not been made public. But whatever the numbers, the NFL’s new partnership with Jay-Z is a huge win for the league. Some of the biggest celebrities in the world have voiced their support of Kaepernick, saying they would boycott the NFL until Kaepernick is back in the league.


Now that the NFL has Jay-Z’s blessing, it’s conceivable that some of those entertainers who distanced themselves from the NFL might change their mind. Jay-Z has given the NFL exactly what it wanted: guilt-free access to black audiences, culture, entertainers, and influencers.

NFL officials must have been bothered by how much Kaepernick was discussed during Super Bowl week earlier this year. Not only did Goodell have to answer more questions about why Kaepernick still isn’t receiving any interest from NFL teams, but there had also been a number of reports that the league was having a hard time finding performers for its halftime show. Some stars, including Rihanna and Cardi B, reportedly turned down the opportunity to appear at the event show out of allegiance to Kaepernick. Other celebrities, such as the comedian Amy Schumer, publicly pressured the Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine to pull out of his performance. The Reverend Al Sharpton, the civil-rights leader, blasted the rapper Travis Scott, who performed with Levine. “You can’t fight against Jim Crow and then go sit in the back of the bus,” Sharpton told TMZ.


Ironically, one of the people who also advised Scott not to perform at the Super Bowl was Jay-Z. Yesterday the Roc Nation founder said he’d told Scott he shouldn’t perform at the Super Bowl because he would be playing “second fiddle” to Maroon 5. It had nothing to do with Kaepernick.

Clearly Jay-Z’s support of Kaepernick only went so far. Regardless, why would Jay-Z waste any of his enormous social and cultural capital on the NFL when he doesn’t need the league’s platform, money, resources, or validation?

Read: The war on black athletes

I get that Jay-Z might see this as an opportunity for artists to connect with the NFL’s immense audience. He could also offer some incredible insight and direction to the league on the social-justice front, since he’s been actively engaged in such work for a long time. I also understand that, to become hip-hop’s first billionaire, Jay-Z didn’t always have the luxury of avoiding relationships and partnerships with people he disagreed with or disliked.


But in this case, Jay-Z isn’t getting enough out of the deal to justify the sacrifice of some of his credibility. This alliance plays right into the NFL’s hands, because the league seems determined to banish any memory of Kaepernick with its recent social-justice efforts—even though it’s likely that Jay-Z and the NFL wouldn’t even be entering into this arrangement if Kaepernick hadn’t taken a knee in 2016.


It’s easy to see why Kaepernick would be upset now. The partnership with Jay-Z is part of the NFL’s larger strategy to continue to absolve itself of what happened to the quarterback and throw enough money at social-justice causes so that the players will no longer feel the need to protest—or, at the very least, keep their opinions about racial injustice far away from the football field. Last year The New York Times obtained audio of the three-hour meeting that took place among owners, players, and executives in October 2017, during the pinnacle of the protest drama. The late Houston Texans owner Bob McNair told the players who were present at the meeting, “You fellas need to ask your compadres, ‘Fellas, stop that other business. Let’s go out and do something that really produces positive results, and we’ll help you.’”

By leaving Kaepernick completely out of the mix, Jay-Z is now complicit in helping the NFL execute its strategy. Now he is an accomplice in the league’s hypocrisy.

“I think that we forget that Colin’s whole thing was to bring attention to social injustice, correct?” Jay-Z said during the press conference. “So, in that case, this is a success; this is the next thing. ’Cause there’s two parts of protesting. You go outside and you protest, and then the company or the individual says, ‘I hear you. What do we do next?’ So, for me, it was like, action, actionable item, what are we going to do with it? Everyone heard and we hear what you’re saying, and everybody knows I agree with what you’re saying. So what are we going to do? So we should, millions of millions of people, and all we get stuck on [is] Colin not having a job. I think we’re past kneeling. I think it’s time for action.”


It doesn’t matter whom the NFL partners with, or how much money it pours into social-justice causes. The league’s actions come off as disingenuous because Kaepernick remains unemployed as a result of a peaceful protest. How can the NFL be taken seriously as a social-justice champion when it blackballed a player who stood up for equality?

I don’t question Jay-Z’s commitment to social justice or his desire to empower African Americans. He has consistently used his platform to have critical conversations and bring awareness to the inequalities and injustices that black people regularly face. Jay-Z brilliantly put into perspective how the war on drugs disproportionately hurt blacks and Latinos. He executive-produced a riveting six-part documentary series on the slain teen Trayvon Martin that aired on BET last summer. He also produced a miniseries on Kalief Browder, who was falsely imprisoned at New York’s Rikers Island for three years, starting when he was 16 years old, for allegedly stealing a backpack. Browder died by suicide a year after he was released. Jay-Z’s foundation has funded countless initiatives related to education and professional development. He has also donated millions to so many causes that he is one of the most important humanitarians in the world.


Read: No country for Colin Kaepernick

I don’t believe Jay-Z is a sellout, because his track record proves otherwise. But it does seem like he’s being used as cover. Or, at best, a buffer. The league can point to its partnership with Jay-Z whenever anyone brings up the fact that several of its owners are Trump supporters. As Kaepernick’s best friend, the Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, pointed out on Twitter, the announcement of this partnership helped move the news cycle past last week’s controversy involving the Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.

The Miami wide receiver Kenny Stills criticized Ross for holding a fundraiser for Trump last week. Stills, who continued to kneel during the national anthem last season, called out Ross for hypocrisy. The Dolphins owner also serves as a co-founder of RISE (the Ross Initiative for Sports and Equality), whose mission is to create leadership programs and workshops to address racism, inequality, and prejudice—which Trump keeps making worse. As evidenced by Ross and the New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, NFL owners are quite comfortable playing Robin Hood in one world and Gordon Gekko in another.

Fortunately for Ross and other owners, Jay-Z gave the NFL what it wanted—a blank slate. Jay-Z is an iconic figure, and it would be a shame if this partnership changed how people think of him. But I have also learned this about the NFL: Football is the NFL’s primary business, but chess is the game it plays best.


Read: No country for Colin Kaepernick



We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/jay-z-helps-nfl-banish-colin-kaepernick/596146/


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