Kaepernick has refused to stand for the anthem all season in protest of police brutality and racial oppression in the United States.
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So Trent Dilfer wasn’t being at all thoughtless on Sunday afternoon, when he delivered the latest cringe-worthy opinion on the Colin Kaepernick controversy on ESPN’s NFL Countdown. Kaepernick was benched midseason a year ago after completing just 59 percent of his passes for 1,615 yards with six touchdowns to five interceptions, but many believed he could excel in Kelly’s up-tempo offense. He was unapologetic about it and, in his defense, I don’t think he was trying to disrespect anyone.
The billionaire owners of the franchises of the National Football need to get some intestinal fortitude as we would say in Biloxi and D’Iberville and stand for something other than just looking at the financial remuneration derived from their players. He later told NFL Media that he refused to “stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color”.
Obama said that the football player was “exercising his constitutional right”, noting that there has been a long history of sports figures making political statements. In addition, the government took land from Native Americans. And the United States has fought several wars it probably shouldn’t have. If protests were gun fire he’d be shooting the wrong man.
Butch Jones is aware of the social activism taking place on NFL fields around the country, but the Tennessee coach hasn’t considered the implications of his players taking a similar stance because they aren’t on the field for the national anthem.
However, while Kaepernick has received a lot of support from fans and players, he’s received just as much backlash, if not more, and the Comedy Central series has become part of that backlash, but in a comical way, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
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“That’s what America’s all about, freedom”, he says. Maybe the National Football League senses that the United States is a strong country that can take some differences of opinion. The same thing goes for Star Wars, when he basically remade Episode IV and changed the protagonist from male to female and sprinkled in the characters you already know and love.
