Taking A Knee

Icemanbrfc

Icemanbrfc

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NFL players and owners across the US knelt or stood with arms their arms linked during the national anthem to highlight racial injustice and police brutality in America, on Sunday, September 24.

The Take a Knee movement was started by quarterback Colin Kaepernick who knelt before a pre-season game for the San Francisco 49ers in 2016.

Kaepernick had said: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.

"To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

The poignant display has been adopted by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Other footballers have followed in Kaepernick's footsteps and a verbal attack on those who protest by Trump prompted the largest-scale anti-racism protests in the league yet.


https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/4539225/take-a-knee-nfl-us-national-anthem-donald-trump/
 
Not even sure why they have to play the national anthem before every match though...
 
[video=youtube;t2kqHuOniv0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2kqHuOniv0[/video]
 
TBH, the NFL is losing on this one. It's become a fairly empty show of nothing. Kaepernick had the full right to not stand, but as soon as the rest of the NFL joined in it quickly lost all meaning, then Trump turned it into a travesty.
 
I find this hilarious tbh. I would bet most black people in this country would kill to have the type of lifestyle that a poor black person in the US has. This is what CNN considers a poor person who is obviously being oppressed in the US.
[video=youtube;-SCB1t28nDU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SCB1t28nDU[/video]

In South Africa, this woman would be living a lower-middle class lifestyle.
 
Been following this a bit. Saw an article that said the movement has alienated a large part of the fan base who are middle age white men who are very patriotic about the flag. They disagree with disrespecting the flag as a form of protest.

Anyways, personally, I think there is a lot of targeting and victimisation of black people with some very innocent people having been killed recently in these high profile recent examples. I think what the black movement fails to recognise or acknowledge in their protests is there is a good reason police tend to profile people of colour as being more likely to be criminals. Gang culture etc is rampant amount black and Hispanic people in the states and your chance of being a criminal does seem to be higher if you happen to have black skin in the states. I realise its a bit of a chicken and egg story but I think people should also take accountability and try clean up the gang/crime/violent culture in their midst before blaming the cops for it all. Black cops also profile black people as being more likely to be criminal largely because its a fact, and their lives are in danger when confronting criminals. There tends to be a lot more protests about a white cop killing an innocent black person than when any cop is killed by a black criminal.

As is so often the case both sides have a point, but both sides are often very good at spotting the other sides faults and fallacies while being completely incapable of acknowledging their own and doing something about it.
 
Cius said:
Been following this a bit. Saw an article that said the movement has alienated a large part of the fan base who are middle age white men who are very patriotic about the flag. They disagree with disrespecting the flag as a form of protest.
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Responding to a tip from one of his "boys," Smith brought up the fact that until 2009—eight years and a new Presidential administration after 9/11—players weren't on the field for the national anthem and instead generally remained in the locker room. According to Smith's boy (and the researcher at ESPN who checked it), the switch happened "because it was seen as a marketing strategy to make the athletes look more patriotic."

Here's what Curran had to say on August 29th:

It's a tribute to the NFL's ability to drape itself in the flag that nobody even realizes that – prior to 2009 – players being on the field for the national anthem wasn't even standard practice.

...

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed this morning the practice began in 2009, adding, 'As you know, the NFL has a long tradition of patriotism. Players are encouraged but not required to stand for the anthem.'

Add in the fact that the NFL received millions of taxpayer dollars from the Department of Defense and the National Guard for patriotic displays, and it puts the entire Kaepernick hullabaloo in a different light. "Fans should have confidence that their hometown heroes are being honored because of their honorable military service, not as a marketing ploy," Senator John McCain, the Vietnam War veteran and P.O.W., said in a statement last year coinciding with "Tackling Paid Patriotism," a joint oversight report released by McCain and his fellow Arizona Republican Senator John Flake.
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.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
Not even sure why they have to play the national anthem before every match though...
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As Randhir points out, the military paid the NFL.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/national-anthem-military-contracts-nfl

cerebus said:
TBH, the NFL is losing on this one. It's become a fairly empty show of nothing. Kaepernick had the full right to not stand, but as soon as the rest of the NFL joined in it quickly lost all meaning, then Trump turned it into a travesty.
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What are the 'sides' you're seeing here? The NFL and the players aren't on the same side necessarily.

Of course, Trump has used his bully pulpit to enforce right-think, got people fired/suspended from their jobs and bullied private businesses into toeing the politically correct line.

Not a surprise the usual folks complaining about the left threatening free speech have been entirely silent on this.

konfab said:
I find this hilarious tbh. I would bet most black people in this country would kill to have the type of lifestyle that a poor black person in the US has. This is what CNN considers a poor person who is obviously being oppressed in the US.
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My, my - how quickly your sympathy for the poor/working class dry up when it's not about white Trump supporters.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
Not even sure why they have to play the national anthem before every match though...
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OrbitalDawn said:
As Randhir points out, the military paid the NFL.
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Actually, they've been playing the The Star-Spangled Banner at games a lot longer than it's been the national anthem, and it's sporting origins are in baseball during the 1918 world series.
 
I used to be a footballer, then I took a knee in the arrow.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Not a surprise the usual folks complaining about the left threatening free speech have been entirely silent on this.
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Nobody is stopping any of the NFL players from protesting on their own time. Criticising someone for not doing their job is not equivalent to threatening free speech. Plus, people not watching the games and expressing their distaste for the sentiments of the players is also a matter of free speech.

If Kaepernick was protesting on his own time and people on the right started trying to get him thrown off the NFL team anyway, only then could you claim some sort of equivalence with what the left has been doing.

Protecting the right to freedom of speech means keeping it legally protected. It doesn't mean protecting people from hearing what others think of their actions.
 
bwana said:
Actually, they've been playing the The Star-Spangled Banner at games a lot longer than it's been the national anthem, and it's sporting origins are in baseball during the 1918 world series.
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Right. I meant the broader 'patriotism (read: military/flag fetishisation) at sports events' thing.
 
Xarog said:
Criticising someone for not doing their job is not equivalent to threatening free speech. .
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Since when was standing for the national anthem part of his job? Was it part of his contract? Was it a regulation by the NFL commission?

Are foreigners also bound by these regulations, should they exist?
 
Randhir said:
Since when was standing for the national anthem part of his job? Was it part of his contract? Was it a regulation by the NFL commission?

Are foreigners also bound by these regulations, should they exist?
Click to expand...

The league's current position is that everyone should stand but that policy is being reviewed in the coming days. College players are already starting to be cut from the team for kneeling.
 
Xarog said:
Nobody is stopping any of the NFL players from protesting on their own time. Criticising someone for not doing their job is not equivalent to threatening free speech. Plus, people not watching the games and expressing their distaste for the sentiments of the players is also a matter of free speech.

If Kaepernick was protesting on his own time and people on the right started trying to get him thrown off the NFL team anyway, only then could you claim some sort of equivalence with what the left has been doing.

Protecting the right to freedom of speech means keeping it legally protected. It doesn't mean protecting people from hearing what others think of their actions.
Click to expand...

On his own time ?

So when he is getting paid he is not allowed to have an opinion ? He must tow the line or be poor ?
What does his job have to do with politics anyway...

He has the freedom to make his statement - but must accept that others wont appreciate it. The lesson to be learned is that you wont get support for your cause by creating division... and he is creating division
 
Randhir said:
Since when was standing for the national anthem part of his job? Was it part of his contract? Was it a regulation by the NFL commission?

Are foreigners also bound by these regulations, should they exist?
Click to expand...
No, no, you're right. Let the players drive away all the fans until there's nothing left of the NFL. That's a much better way of doing things. I always thought the NFL was retarded anyways. :crylaugh:
 
bwana said:
The league's current position is that everyone should stand but that policy is being reviewed in the coming days. College players are already starting to be cut from the team for kneeling.
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According to this, "it is recommended that players stand during the national anthem but not required of them."

If that is the case, then he's doing absolutely nothing wrong as per his employers' regulations.
 
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