The costs and benefits of public police protests in the NFL
Colin Kaepernick was a talented NFL player who was dropped by all NFL teams because he used the public platform of the NFL as a 1st amendment protest for civil rights. He sat and knelt during the anthem. He said that he refused to honor a song or show pride for a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. Also, he referenced to the shootings of black men by police as one of the reasons for his stance. He did this at the cost of being able to play football but was it worth it?
“To me this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”
In my opinion this message has different points of view. On one side it is good to stand up for the truth we believe even if it requires sacrifice but at the end of the story he still got paid for his message, we know he sacrificed his career but he didn’t lose money anyways. Maybe some people did get the message through all of the attention and controversy but I guess the NFL has free speech as well. Some of the police departments may have paid more attention to the message and fixed problems but other then that, I don’t think he solved anything with his demonstrations.
He may have just caused more problems because by wearing socks that show a pig police I think is not respectful. If we are going to protest about something there are so many different ways to do it. I mean we have to do it in the right way, and not be offending other people too. When we talk about police there are some that do his job in the right way, but he is speaking in general. One more injustice does not solve the many injustices of the past. A protest like this is complicated and can leave some people feeling like they are blamed for the mistakes of others. Most police officers care about justice and should be treated with respect.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback addressed the situation with an Instagram post later in the morning.
“I wore these socks, in the past, because the rogue cops that are allowed to hold positions in police departments, not only put the community in danger, but also put the cops that have the right intentions in danger by creating an environment of tension and mistrust,” Kaepernick wrote.
He added that he wore the socks before he started sitting down during the national anthem prior to the 49ers’ preseason games this year. He told reporters Sunday he’s protesting social injustice.
“There is police brutality,” the quarterback said. “People of color have been targeted by police. So that’s a large part of it, and they’re government officials. They are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change. There’s things we can do to hold them more accountable, make those standards higher.” – L.A. Times 2016