NFL Football Protests

As I understand it, the demonstrations by NFL players originated with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. He began to kneel during the national anthem at games as a way of drawing attention to the well documented fact that black Americans are targeted and sometimes killed by law enforcement officials. The intention of the protest by NFL players is to highlight the systemic problem of how police officers treat black suspects. These players are, of course, exercising their rights to protest in a way that spreads their message as far and wide as possible. So, are people upset with the NFL players:

• because they disagree that black Americans are disproportionately targeted and killed by law enforcement officials?
• because they disagree with the right of American citizens to protest?
• because they believe sporting events are not the proper venue to discuss, or protest, issues of race?
• because they agree with president Trump that the NFL players should be fired for expressing their outrage over an outrageous situation?
• because rich black athletes should not complain about social issues while enjoying their financial success?
• because they need to be reminded that their financial success is put in jeopardy if they dare to criticize the society that oppresses their less fortunate brothers?
• because they really have nothing to complain about since the United States is free from racial problems?
• they just want to get on with the game and not have to be confronted by pressing social/racial issues?

I imagine I’ve missed a few points, and some overarching, compelling reason for people to support Trump in this matter. Here are a few things I do know:

• Trump had to be reminded by his wife, Melania on Easter, April 16, 2017 to raise his hand to his heart when the national anthem was being sung
• there are far fewer black men in corporate board rooms than in professional sports
• African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites
• African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, but the imprisonment rate of African Americans for drug charges is almost 6 times that of whites
• In 2002, blacks constituted more than 80% of the people sentenced under the federal crack cocaine laws and served substantially more time in prison for drug offenses than did whites, despite that fact that more than 2/3 of crack cocaine users in the U.S. are white or Hispanic
• 35% of black children grades 7-12 have been suspended or expelled at some point in their school careers compared to 20% of Hispanics and 15% of whites
• Black men are nearly three times as likely to die from police use of force
• Hispanic men are nearly twice as likely to die at the hands of police
• Black males continue to represent a disproportionately large share of unarmed people killed by law enforcement officers​

Maybe it is time to suspend all professional sports until vital lessons about respect can be learned. We should pause for a time to ponder why the athletes of the NFL chose to protest in this way. Personally, I’d be perfectly happy if professional sports were replaced in popularity by the arts. So, for those of you who wish to “Stand” at the national anthem, or have NFL players fired (at the urging of our great moral leader who constantly avoided serving his country when it called him) for protesting this terrible crisis you don’t seem to acknowledge, what do you want? Isn’t it best for black NFL players to respectfully call attention to these issues on the grid iron than use their earned millions to fund armed riots in the street?