The Colin Kaepernick situation reveals all you need to know about the US Big Business and its most popular non profit the National Football League. Kaepernick remains unsigned because he stood up against racism and police violence, both of which are important to the rich powerful in maintaining their hold on US society.
The NFL owners are hypocrites. What does the flag and the national anthem have to do with professional football? Not a thing the pageantry is about getting fans to tie country and sports together in a way that guarantees people will be interested in making it the American past time. When owners introduced the flag and the national anthem they introduced politics into the game.
But who can fault the owners for protecting their interests. The police serve and protect them as members of the privileged class; not White folks in general but specifically, The White Power Structure. The police don’t protect ordinary White folks no matter how much some folks want to believe that lie. The statistics reveal police kill White people as well even unarmed minding their own business working class White folks. But they don’t kill and or brutalize RICH White folks, the one percenters and those in range of it.
Anti racist activists could take a page from the NFL. Instead of taking to social media and incessantly talking about how much they don’t want to deal with Kaepernick, rather they took action. They have “apparently” banned Kap while sending a clear message to the other well paid serfs in their employ.
Incidentally, Baltimore Ravens owner took a page out of the old plantation owners playbook when he used his BOY former Ravens linebacking great Ray Lewis to pass along the message that if Kaepernick doesn’t behave and become more docile like the other serfs there will be dire consequences. The buck- dancing know nothing Lewis, immediately took to social media and encouraged Kaperneck (who he calls his friend) to dance to massa’s tune so he can play. Lewis was on camera telling the quarterback to stop doing what he is doing while all the while saying he has his back. Lewis says, “he has learned from his mistakes” and hasn’t repeated them twice, as if to say Kaepernick’s protest was a mistake.
Imagine that standing up for the rights of Black people in a very public forum is now categorized as a mistake. Lawd look how far Black people have come.
Incredibly former Black NFLers who should remain quiet are volunteering their two cents, more like half cents. The man who would-be quarterback, former Pittsburgh Steeler Kordell Stewart is telling the quarterback to be quiet. Somebody should tell him that he doesn’t have to shuffle his feet any more, he isn’t in the league anymore. I wonder if he wanted folks to be quiet when it was clear the Steelers didn’t trust his Black self to run its offense?
And poor Mike Vick suggested that Kap should cut his hair. Vick doesn’t realize that the White folks who love their animals more than even people, (well at least Black people) are never going to forgive him no matter who he tries to throw under the bus.
Jerry Rice chimed in chastising Kap for supposedly disrespecting the flag. Rice likely had problems with the fact that Kap unlike him cares about things other than himself unlike JERRY.
It’s likely Lewis, Vick and the others have no idea that historically Black people used sports as a platform to advance racial justice in this country. They likely don’t know that athletes like Jim Brown never hesitated to tell the truth about US society. They probably aren’t aware that Muhammad Ali sacrificed his boxing prime to protest the illegal US war against Vietnam.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar observed that Kaepernick’s stand was not un-American, but what was un-American is the failure of the country to address the reason for his stand. Jabbar has it wrong, White dupes as well as the power structure have no intention on bringing about an end to racism or police violence, to do that would be un-American. It would cut into the profits of the ruling rich by making it much more difficult to divide and rule, which is what racism effectively does. And it would end the reason for living for those who relish and cherish White Supremacy.
NFL president Roger Goodell unintentionally revealed the truth when he said “teams make decisions [based] on what’s in the best interests of their team.”
Those complaining about the league’s criminal element don’t understand. What’s criminal to the money grubbers is anything that might interfere with making money . The theme of Big Business, to paraphrase former owner Al Davis is, just make money baby.
Kaepernick threatens their bottom line, unlike the wife beaters and drug abusers and stick up men in its employ. The fans are likely to forgive someone who has been arrested 10 times if he is a good player. But the thoroughly indoctrinated folks who make up the USA are quickly offended by a seemingly ungrateful Negro who is not appreciative of all the bountiful goodness the White settlers have afforded him here in this Shagri-la. After all he could be toiling away in some drought forsaken part of his home country.
Justice then peace
Read more of Mel Reeves work at Fight The Power Journal