Different Thoughts: Goodbye, NFL

So long, National Football League. You have finally done it. Over the years I have slowly lost interest and silently put up with a number of issues that caused me to question your legitimacy as well as your highly exalted place in our culture. I have watched you exploit young athletes, hold communities and their taxpayers hostage so you could extort public funds to build your cathedrals (Stadiums) at the expense of others, and watched as you systematically denied the fact that your employees regularly experience brain-damage by simply playing the game you own. Your denial campaign on that score rivals anything the tobacco industry or even the Catholic Church did during their famous denial campaigns. But you just added the final straw- built the bridge too far. Yes, it's the kneeling down thing!!

Two weeks ago the NFL owners met to discuss League matters and chief among those was the matter of some players silently kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem. This quiet act of protest was begun by Colin Kaepernick in 2016 when he was a player for the San Francisco 49's. Kaepernick began the practice of kneeling during the anthem as a way to express protest and concern over the unjust treatment of African Americans by police and to generally protest against racial discrimination and injustice. This act of protest caught on with other members of his team and spread to other players and other teams. As the movement grew it began to get national attention and finally Trump found a way to use this practice to promote his propaganda campaign of white nationalism.

During the 2017-2018 season team personnel and owners simply didn't know how to handle this and by all observation simply didn't pay much attention to it until Trump weighed in by completely ignoring the reason for the protest, and instead defining it as an act of disrespect for the country and the armed forces of the country. Last year at one of his propaganda rallies he went so far as to hurl personal insults and suggest to the Roman Coliseum-like crowd that owners should just "fire the son-of-bitch." Kaepernick, who wasn't having a great year at the quarterback position was let-go from the 49's and has not played professional football since, as no team will hire him now.

Before I go on, here are a few facts to keep in mind as each of us observe and react to this issue. 1. It wasn't until just a few years ago that players were even on the field for the National Anthem. The practice of having them on the field came about when the Department of Defense (DOD) contracted with the League and individual teams to have them on the field. The DOD wanted to have a show of patriotism as a tool for recruiting young people into the military, and they thought it would be good "branding" to be partnered up with the NFL. The NFL was essentially paid for that patriotism they insist on now. Let's not pretend that this whole thing is about patriotism and love of country-it was a business deal. 2. 70% of the players in the NFL are African American. 3. 0% of the NFL owners are African American. All NFL owners are white with the exception of one man of Pakistani decent who is a naturalized citizen; and one team that is owned by the Municipality of Green Bay Wisconsin ( a city that is 70% white. 4. The NFL is a $14 Billion operation that is essentially tax-exempt as it has been designated a 501 (c) (6) non-profit corporation- making for a strange intertwining of the federal government and the NFL.

So when the owners met they made a big decision about kneeling during the anthem. Here we have universally (very) wealthy, white (31 out of 32) men telling an overwhelmingly African American workforce, all with unique and special skills, that their voice will be silenced. The official decision was that players must stand for the anthem, or the player must remain in the locker room during the anthem.

In my mind there are two very striking aspects to this ruling. The first is that I have never seen such a blatant use of white privilege. Usually white privilege is more subtle and usually unspoken. This is the white power elite getting right in the face of 70% of their talented workforce, who are the essential raw material of their business and saying: just shut up and do what you're told. The NFL is an entertainment medium, but most fans worship it as an institution that has implications for the whole society- you know about sports being an analogy for life and all that, and even though it isn't officially the "national pastime"- it is most assuredly "America's Game". As I heard in a movie once, the NFL is such a cultural icon, "it owns a day of the week". Now owners who have elevated the game and its players to god-like status, are deciding to put "the help" in their place. The players who are selling their future health (albeit for big paychecks) should be allowed to have a voice in the society that reveres what they do. Racial inequality, discrimination, bigotry, and racially motivated violence are real. And so is white privilege. When the players try to use a symbolic, non-violent gesture to make the point that their people suffer from these ills, only to be told by white owners they cannot, those owners are practicing a form of discrimination. The racial discrimination we continue to see everyday in our country springs from our days as a slave-holding nation. And as I heard very recently, the worst thing about slavery was not the involuntary servitude- it was the ingrained notion that black people are less than human. Unfortunately that ingrained part of ourselves still dwells in too many of us; and opportunities to act out with those old notions continually present themselves. This is one of those occasions. Most of us don't have to stand for an anthem every day before work or have our rights sold to the military for show; and that is probably good, for I wonder how many of us might have reason to say things aren't right and not just stand there like a robot because we were ordered to by the boss.

The other major issue here is the owners' willingness to be used in this game of phony nationalism. Ever the propagandist, Trump saw this opportunity to make it about him while completely ignoring any recognition of the issues being raised by African American players. He made it about respecting the flag and the anthem- even about respecting the military and veterans. This is what an opportunistic and autocratic leader does, and it is right out the playbook of 1930's fascist leaders in Europe. They generate fear- find a group of people to blame- then foment hate whenever possible to make the point and top it off by repeating lies often and with great voracity. The NFL players who participated in this silent, peaceful protests were perfect targets for the misguided and dangerous form of nationalism coming from Trump. Trump even said most recently that players who don't stand for the anthem, "probably shouldn't even be in the country". He went on to unfavorably compare the patriotism of kneeling NLF players with participants in NASCAR. NASCAR has a largely Southern following and does not have one African American driver on its top circuit, making the racial comparison glaringly obvious. Loyalty to symbols rather than ideals is also a sign of a decaying society and should be a warning to all of us..

I am not surprised that the owners bowed to Trump on this one. They are all in the 1% of wealthy people and (almost) all white- in other words: his people. For the record, I do not respect the Flag and I do not respect the National Anthem. I do respect the ideals they are supposed to represent. When the symbols of great notions no longer represent great notions and great ideals, those symbols quickly lose their value. That is the lesson here and it should always be the most important lesson of this fiasco of an issue. We really don't stand for the flag- we stand for the liberties and freedoms it symbolizes- remembering that one of the most important of those freedoms is the freedom to express ideas and to speak out against injustice. Take that away and it is just red, white, and blue cloth; and our National Anthem is just a difficult-to-sing tune. Let's not be fooled by self-serving charlatans who want you to salute,  but not to think about what you're saluting or why you do it.

One of the great things about our capitalistic/consumer driven economy is that we can vote with our pocketbook. I'm voting to say goodbye to the NFL over this issue. I know there were those who boycotted last year because they objected to permitting the protest kneeling. I'm going to stop consuming their product because the NFL, as a business and an institution, no longer supports American values. My small gesture will not be noticed, and my absence from viewership or purchasing of their products will make no real difference. But, it is particularly important in these times to take a stand, if for no other reason, than because it's the right thing to do. If enough people do it, it may be noticed and it may make a difference. There is an old saying that, "the arc of history usually bends towards justice". In this case I'd like to be at the start of that bend. I know that in a society dominated by the white race it can be uncomfortable to face our past and current prejudices, particularly when we just tuned in to watch our favorite team play a game we love to watch, and be entertained. But, being uncomfortable is how change happens, and that is what starts to bend the arc of history.

Thanks for looking in.