Not sure who pissed off the individual who leaked the audio from an October meeting between NFL players and owners, but several key facts were revealed. First, the owners are a bunch of weak, greedy cowards who are allowing their racism to govern their decisions. It appears they were more concerned about whether POTUS was going to make additional comments about the protests. That a bunch of billionaires would allow themselves to be punked by the proclivities of a man who made disparaging remarks about their employees is pathetic.
The owners’ other past-time at the meeting appeared to include hand-wringing over what their racist fans were going to think, thereby affecting the bottom line. Even Stephen Ross, who purports to be a champion of player activism though he already revealed his true colors this off season with his made and then retracted statement about prohibiting kneeling, was unimpressive. As has been the case in thousands of instances where whites seek to use Blacks as a prop, Ross wanted to put a Black face on a campaign which would include a march on Washington. Finally, Mr. “inmates running the prison” Bob McNair cut through all the pretense and simply demanded that the slaves tell their “compadres” to stop kneeling. No substantive focus on the rights of players; the fact that there is no mandate to stand; or empathy for the racism Blacks, including players, face in this country.
Meanwhile, the players rightfully focused on Kaepernick’s absence from rosters, and partnership with the NFL to demonstrate the league’s support of social issues. Though his comments were relevant and accurate since all of this would indeed be resolved if an owner would sign Kaepernick, Chris Long gets unnecessary focus and attention because he is the only white player who has been consistently vocal in his support of Kaepernick. In other words, Black players saying the exact things he has are given less weight and attention though many of those who also support Kaepernick themselves protested during the anthem while Long has not.
As it has now been six months since that meeting and Kaepernick remains team less, it appears owner cowardice, fear, and racism continue to rule NFL ownership.
Read the article at nytimes.com.
