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The Sad Business Of The NFL
olin Kaepernick is
being white-balled by the NFL. That is the conclu- sion that, I believe, most people have come to after watching teams around the league reject the services of the popular quarterback while choosing to add other passers to their rosters who are, arguably, far less tal- ented at the position.
Last year when Kaeper- nick decided to take a knee before games during the Na- tional Anthem, as part of his protest against the excessive use of deadly force being ad- ministered by police officers across the country on mem- bers of the African American community, most of us knew that his bold stance would place his playing career in jeopardy. And, as it turns out, our concerns had merit.
In response to Kaeper- nick having the audacity to upset the status quo, it seems as though NFL owners have decided to make an example out of the former San Fran- cisco 49ers signal caller by denying him an opportunity to earn a living in his chosen profession. In a manner eerily reminiscent of the way slave owners once treated their property, the NFL shot- callers have taken to utilizing a disciplinary tactic that was heavily preferred by over- seers across the antebellum south.
Back then plantation owners would make a specta- cle out of punishing a rebel- lious slave to make sure the others around him or her re- mained in their places. What we're witnessing now, in
COLIN KAEPERNICK
essence, appears to be a sym- bolic whip being applied to Kaepernick’s back. In pre- senting this united front of disapproval from every league organization, their hope is that any financial repercussions Kaepernick may suffer as a result of his divisive actions will have the same desired effect on other players who may want to fol- low his lead.
The irony in this is that Kaepernick is being sin- gled out for retribution sim- ply because he exercised his first amendment right of free speech. A right that is, al- legedly, protected and repre- sented by the flag and ceremony at the center of the controversy.
I imagine, to those of- fended by Kaepernick’s blatant defiance of social norm, the freedom to ex- press one's self is only al- lowed when what you're conveying meets mass ap- proval. If that is, indeed, the case then it would seem that hypocrisy is just as much a part of this equation as Kaepernick's perceived disrespect.
Of course, none of what the NFL is doing should be much of a surprise. After all this is a corporation that has openly shown, through the advertisers who sponsor their events, the commenta- tors who call their games and the music they use during their broadcast, the demo- graphic to whom their prod- uct is catered.
And, since that demo- graphic leans more towards the average "Jim Bob" from West Virginia than your average "Darius" from De- troit, in their eyes, it makes sense to do everything in their power to keep the “Jim Bobs” of the country happy. That, unfortunately, trans- lates to them turning their backs on someone like Kaepernick, an individual who's viewed by most of the “Jim Bobs” in Middle America as an enemy to the patriotism they hold so dear.
What bothers me the most about this entire ordeal is the lack of support Kaepernick has received from a majority of his former NFL brethren. You would think that they would come to the defense of one of their own being wrongfully perse- cuted if, for no other reason, there exists the possibility that they could also suffer the same fate.
But, then again, with today's athletes being more akin to the likes of Cam Newton and Michael Jor- dan than Muhammad Ali or Tommie Smith, the fact that they're continuing to keep their heads down, in an effort to avoid eye contact with Mr. Charlie, isn't much of a surprise either.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can write to Mr. Barr at: Clarence Barr 43110-018, Oak- dale F. C. I., P. O. BOX 5000, Oakdale, LA 71463.
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Hollywood’s Joyrides To Hell!
erhaps, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said
it best after witnessing yet another carnage scene where the dead bodies of three Black teenagers burned like barbecue in the smoldering wreckage of a stolen SUV.
Choking back the urge to scream as a father and fel- low human being, he calmly said, “One of the deceased kids sitting in that car across the street still has gloves on his hands from doing the car burglaries. They think it’s a game, and they think that they’re Teflon; they think that they’re not going to get hurt.”
But they get more than hurt. They get killed . . . often cremated out in the open for all eyes to see.
In the 1950s and 60s what teenagers are doing today was innocently called “joyriding.” But nowadays, it’s difficult to joyride in a rocket propelled past 140 miles an hour.
So, on whose hands should we wipe the blood of our hard-headed children? Though they weep, parents must bear a portion of the blame. But they cannot bear the blame alone. For, there is another source equally as powerful as a mother or father’s smile.
Call it Hollywood. Featuring actors like Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in movies with names like Fast and Furious, The Fate of The Furious, The Furious Five, Furious Seven, Fast and Furious Su- percharged, these films are centered around death-de- fying stunts with automobiles that come straight out of a Star Wars shooting script.
True enough, nobody has ever put a gun to a child’s head and said, “Watch this movie or die.” But what it bullies is a culture of young movie-goers hypnotized by voices that whisper seductively, “Come on! You won’t get killed.”
And the rest is a never-ending obituary.
Yet, maybe, we’re being too hard on Hollywood. But when we realize that Hollywood not only entertains, but teaches, then we must pause to ask, “What is Fast and Furious teaching our children?
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