nfl

Trump reiterates demands for NFL players to stand during national anthem

22 Comments
By GRANT HALVERSON

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I hope hundreds of players kneel for the anthem. Because it is a peaceful protest, it doesn't interrupt the actual game itself, and it brings attention to a cause.

So Trump can just get as upset as he wants, and keep all the gaslighting he wants.

17 ( +21 / -4 )

Looks like I’m back to not watching the NFL. Socialist wokeness and football don’t mix.

-22 ( +4 / -26 )

Looks like I’m back to not watching the NFL. Socialist wokeness and football don’t mix.

Is that your safe space?

15 ( +17 / -2 )

Good on the league.

The right tried to frame this as an issue of respect for the flag, which allowed them to sidestep a discussion that made them uncomfortable.

The issue sat not only unresolved, but essentially unacknowledged, until a few years later where the people had enough. At that point, the opportunists step in to riot and loot to promote their own agendas.

The right again don’t want to admit that their unwillingness to discuss the issue led directly to the protests in the streets, and that it was entirely predictable, and in fact, people did in fact predict it at that time, which the right cast off as a threat.

Nope. It was an inevitable consequence.

And now Trump is doubling down on this attempt to reframe this as being about the flag.

How many on the right are going to repeat the exact same mistakes again, even in the face of proof that the approach they took last time was a failure?

It’s time to cast off extremist stances. They don’t serve society.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Emperors, kings, presidents and rulers of every ilk know very well how to use national anthems, flags (and religion, too) as tools to manipulate the emotions of the masses. It's time humanity grew up and got "woke" to the role of symbols to enhance the power of authority and diminish that of individuals who never learned to think for themselves. Colin Kaepernick and his fellow players deserve the thanks of the nation for "taking the knee" and setting an example to inspire the worldwide BLM movement.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

Trump again forgets he is not a dictator.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Screw Trump. He is irrelevant. The league has belatedly recognized that peaceful protest is a protected right.

There is nothing more American than the 1st Amendment. I predict Dozens of players will kneel. If someone can’t handle that, change the channel. You won’t be missed.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

If citizens of any country don't willing stand for their own anthem, it's over.

Good. It's their right to bend the knee.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Looks like I’m back to not watching the NFL. Socialist wokeness and football don’t mix.

I'm sure they'll do fine without your (no doubt) sincere concerns.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

More empty gestures that achieve nothing.  These vastly overpaid people have little or nothing in common with people who really suffer racism or economic discriminations.  Especially Kaepernick, who was basically raised in a white middle class environment.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Burning Bush: "If citizens of any country don't willing stand for their own anthem, it's over."

Well, over for Trump and yet another handle for many posters on here, that's for sure. I love that he keeps insisting on his losing policies -- Trump's popularity is tanking as a result, with many major Republicans now saying they will either vote for Biden flat out, or add a third name to ballots. So, keep it up, Trump! And you supporters keep pounding those nails into the coffin!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

NFL players who have knelt during the playing of the national anthem have repeatedly made it clear they are protesting racial injustice and police brutality, and not, as Trump and other conservative critics suggest, the United States or the military.

That’s not believable because they are protesting the United States specifically. Actions speak louder than words. Kaepernik himself has said he refuses to honor a country that discriminated against him. But of course is isn’t discriminated against based of his race - he is filthy rich. He was raised by two loving white parents.

His goal is exactly what his actions say they are - attack America as illegitimate and smear it as racist when his very own success says otherwise. He wants to lead a Maoist re-education that sees the country as he does or be shamed and punished just as Drew Brees was. He isn’t against the country - except if you are patriotic and want to honor its principles. It’s cynical and destructive. It widens the racial divide and pits Americans sense of fairness against the their live of country as if it’s a binary choice - it’s not.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The right again don’t want to admit that their unwillingness to discuss the issue led directly to the protests in the streets, and that it was entirely predictable, and in fact, people did in fact predict it at that time, which the right cast off as a threat.

You know all this started under Obama don’t you? You know the riots are occurring in Progressive cities. It’s not the right that isn’t listening. It’s those running American cities who have failed their citizens. Kneeling is polarizing. It forces people to pick between standing up for that what unifies and equal justice- there is no reason to pit one against the other unless your goal is to cause polarization and enmity.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

That’s not believable because they are protesting the United States specifically. Actions speak louder than words. Kaepernik himself has said he refuses to honor a country that discriminated against him.

Not against him specifically, against black people.

But of course is isn’t discriminated against based of his race - he is filthy rich. He was raised by two loving white parents.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

But of course is isn’t discriminated against based of his race - he is filthy rich. He was raised by two loving white parents.

It seems you think one should ignore racism if they are privileged. Yeah, because that is socially responsible right?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

You know all this started under Obama don’t you?

Once again, the extremists evoke the boogeyman.

No, I don't know that. I know it all started with slavery, and continued with Jim Crow laws, and the protests have been going on since at least the '60s.

But yeah, blame it all on Obama. That's like claiming all of America's ills were started with Trump. America was a mess before either of them came around.

Kneeling is polarizing.

So is watching people who look like you get inordinately killed by the police when unarmed, and having people who don't look like you tell you to complain somewhere else that doesn't make them uncomfortable.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Strangerland: Not against him specifically, against black people.

Yes - against black people. He is black.

It seems you think one should ignore racism if they are privileged. Yeah, because that is socially responsible right?

No I don’t believe that. I mean that not only is Kaepernik an uber privileged person in the upper echelons of the richest 1% in America, he isn’t oppressed by the police nor are black Americans oppressed by the police given the numbers. It should also be noted that oppression isn’t limited to blacks. I have posted the stats showing that more unarmed non-black people are killed by the police. The stats also show that 13% of the population commits 40% of violent crime. It’s a shame that this is the case but the facts are what they are. There are a lot of reasons for this problem but the police didn’t cause it. Defunding the police would be an unmitigated disaster for the average black person

There is a problem with too aggressive policing. George Floyd’s murder was horrible. However more unarmed whites are killed by the police and I don’t want high numbers of them being killed either. The idea that white cops are systematically hunting down and killing innocent black people is not factual. If we were to accept that as true we would also have to accept that whites are also systematically being hunted down and killed. White citizens are involved in fewer violent crimes per capita yet the number killed by the police is much higher than for any other race. Let’s not take the focus off the problems black people face in America but these problems precede their interactions with law enforcement.

Kaepernik wants to force a false choice. America vs black Americans. That’s a destructive thing to foist upon the country. It’s not a binary choice. But he is making clear that America is unsalvageable. If that’s the case - we should dissolve the union and reorganize separate nations of however many that might be and begin over giving all a fresh start.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Strangerland: Once again, the extremists evoke the boogeyman.

No. its’ common knowledge that OrangeManBad.

But yeah, blame it all on Obama.

BLM started under Obama.

So is watching people who look like you get inordinately killed by the police when unarmed, and having people who don't look like you tell you to complain somewhere else that doesn't make them uncomfortable.

Black Americans are killed by police less than whites even though they are involved in violent crimes at a rate many times larger than their population. I don’t blame black citizens for feeling frustrated by the failure of their cities to make any progress over the past 60 years. At the beginning of the 1960s Jim Crow reigned in various states in America. Today racial preferences have been institutionalized within every corner of American society. You can say that the use of race in favor of blacks and other minorities and women is systemic. Yet the promised gains never materialized to the degree expected. That is a significant dilemma for the nation.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Wow, how much difference George Floyd's death makes in 4 years. Let's look back how we got here:

People called for peaceful protests instead of violence, so San Francisco QB Kaepernick started by quietly sitting down during the anthem. Not many people notice.

Then an Army Ranger vet told him that's disrespectful, and that he should kneel instead, and so he did. Then more people noticed.

Then the controversy became all about the flag, instead of why he was protesting in the first place. Kaepernick was blacklisted.

George Floyd is killed. Not only the US, but many places all over the world now took up the cause.

New Orleans QB Brees tried to bring it back all about the flag. But this time, he was shouted down that it's not about the flag. Brees apologizes and sees the error in his ways.

Trump tried to back up Brees and bring back that's it's all about the flag. Brees doesn't take the bait and instead replies that it's not about the flag at all.

Amid where the world is going, even the NFL sees the error in its ways and backs the cause.

Now everybody is kneeling, flag or no flag. Even places where there's hardly blacks amidst a sea of whites, like Salt Lake City.

There's no sports going on right now, so they're doing it on their own spare time. Politicians delve into sports all the time, so sports delve into politics too.

What a difference in just 4 years, from shouts being all about the flag, to being shouted down that it's not about the flag at all.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

 any player who kneels would be "disrespecting" the United States.

Any country that supports summary executions in the street and unwarranted violence by its police force deserves to be disrespected.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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