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I liked that Kaepernick presented his viewpoint without getting "pre-approval" from an established black leader first. He otherwise could have been criticized for a lack of courage and not being his own person. It is more genuine this way IMO. He can still work with them and support their efforts after the season (and vica versa). I do agree that no one can say for absolute certain his motivation at this point.
As more athletes at the pro, college, and high school level kneel during the National Anthem, I predict there will be a shift toward a majority that either support or don't care about this issue and fewer that oppose it.
I reject the notion presented in a few posts that just because someone does not do this at or near the peak of their career, it is somehow not genuinely motivated. Furthermore, the issue CK has spoken about has been in the news in a far more prominent way this year than when the 49ers played the Ravens in the Super Bowl.
I really can't sympathize with those at a game that complain either. How hard is it to just look at the flag or the other people and athletes that are standing and ignore the one or few that are kneeling while the very brief "National Anthem" is being sung? Not difficult at all. Glad that the fake outrage and controversy over this is a little less than it was a couple weeks ago.
And you're welcome to reject anything you please. It's a subjective question and everyone is entitled to their viewpoint. Thank you for yours.
No, "Most of us [do not] realize this". Lots of feelings on both sides of the issue. And many very respectable figures, including the POTUS and nation's AG , plenty of military including present combat veterans, as well as coaches and players in the league - definitely do not feel he is acting like a child and are being quite openly vocal about his protest being an expression of patriotism urging his country toward greater equality.
This...is worth reading again! Very good point! Hopefully, the thread poll will stay open at least another few weeks. Was unable to rep you again.
Comparing Robinson and all Ali is like comparing apples, oranges and bananas: all they have in common are they are produce. Ali protested due to religion. DO I approve? No, but he had a reason, of course Jackie Robinson had some issues, he was the first black player, but neither sat on their asses, did nothing and then, suddenly decided to speak up for what he says is injustice. Has he refused to take his pay check from a white team, did he do anything to protest until now? Where has he been all these years? In what why has he had a personal struggle?
My opinion and that of the majority of Americans, he wanted attention: nothing more. He is spoiled brat that should be thanking his country for the right to voice his opinions; too bad he choose to voice them in such an insulting and demeaning way? He should be thankful God gave him the talent to play sports and he had the opportunity to be adopted by 2 loving parents. He could have spent his life in foster care like many kids do and he could have ever had the opportunity to develop his talent. What a first rate jerk! I would love to use even stronger words, but I don't want to get banned form CD.
I didn't bring up any comparison between CK and Ali or Robinson. I responded to others that did.
CK "sat on his ass" doing nothing until suddenly protesting? He hasn't been sitting on his ass. He's been a starting quarterback in the NFL. And when he has a personal epiphany to realization and action is irrelevant. It's not invalid because he wasn't born with his revelation. Neither was Ali: he converted to Islam after some inner reflection and searching. Just like many evangelical Christians come to Jesus one day after a life of wanton indulgences. Where was CK "all these years"? Um, maturing in stages like pretty much everybody would be my guess.
Your opinion is your opinion. Whether it is a majority opinion in the end is irrelevant to the question of CK's sincerity. As far as I am concerned - and I remind you I am a combat veteran - what's insulting in America is the way racial profiling has been allowed to continue for hundreds of years. It's not a bit insulting to me that CK is taking a stand to protest civil injustice in the country that most prides itself on equal rights in the world. And apparently it's not a bit insulting to millions of Americans including the POTUS and AG, along with legions of active and retired military who are posting public support for CK.
You want to think he's a whiny brat? What do you think of all the other athletes joining him across the nation? Are they all failing in their careers and a bunch of brats? They are donating money and losing endorsements to stand up for justice. The American way: peaceful protest.
So maybe the cop in Ferguson should have waited to see if little Mickey was going to shot him before he took action? Or the kid the other day with the bb gun should have not been shot? We can go on and on. Are there bad cops? of course, do some profile? Of course, but has it dawned on you, there may be a reason for all this? CK choose to insult the country, based on his so called oppression of black people. He has always stood up for what he believes in? NOT::::::::!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any individual incident is immaterial to the larger, statistically glaring, reality of police racial profiling. Any cop can make a bad judgement - or a questionable judgement - or a good judgement that proves wrong in later investigation. But when police departments across the nation are found to be guilty of persistent profiling, including the use of deadly force, in gross percentages - then the issue of protest is grossly validated.
Your rant is revealing.
Revealing that you have absolutely no grasp of the issues and their factual statistics.
Revealing that you believe Blacks are inherently more criminal than whites. (Did you say this? Yes: "has it dawned on you, there may be a reason for all this?" ... Plain as day Nita) You apparently can't grasp that the Black community is alienated from cooperating with law enforcement based on centuries of history of police abuse. You wonder why crime in many Black communities runs high in light of this alienation?
And revealing that you are so short of life perspective as to declare that any person who protests anything must have maintained their position for life. Anyone who comes to epiphany about anything as they mature is marginalized and subject to ridicule.
I think the "cry for (personal) attention" vote is absurd. Do people really believe this, or is it just a mechanism for casting aspersions upon his character?
The simplest answer is the most likely: His disillusionment reached a breaking point, he felt he had nothing to lose (after all, he wanted a trade), so he chose to make a bold and controversial statement to draw attention to a cause.
I didn't bring up any comparison between CK and Ali or Robinson. I responded to others that did.
CK "sat on his ass" doing nothing until suddenly protesting? He hasn't been sitting on his ass. He's been a starting quarterback in the NFL. And when he has a personal epiphany to realization and action is irrelevant. It's not invalid because he wasn't born with his revelation. Neither was Ali: he converted to Islam after some inner reflection and searching. Just like many evangelical Christians come to Jesus one day after a life of wanton indulgences. Where was CK "all these years"? Um, maturing in stages like pretty much everybody would be my guess.
Your opinion is your opinion. Whether it is a majority opinion in the end is irrelevant to the question of CK's sincerity. As far as I am concerned - and I remind you I am a combat veteran - what's insulting in America is the way racial profiling has been allowed to continue for hundreds of years. It's not a bit insulting to me that CK is taking a stand to protest civil injustice in the country that most prides itself on equal rights in the world. And apparently it's not a bit insulting to millions of Americans including the POTUS and AG, along with legions of active and retired military who are posting public support for CK.
You want to think he's a whiny brat? What do you think of all the other athletes joining him across the nation? Are they all failing in their careers and a bunch of brats? They are donating money and losing endorsements to stand up for justice. The American way: peaceful protest.
I agree he has every right to do protest this way but he is still a spoiled brat that showed disrespect for our country. As for others following him, this is not surprising, they are few and far between. Let me ask you, what about all those who did not jump on his bandwagon? I certainly would hope you are bright enough to understand what I meant when I said sitting on his ass.
Of course you were comparing him to Ali and Robinson or would not have mentioned it at all.
Any individual incident is immaterial to the larger, statistically glaring, reality of police racial profiling. Any cop can make a bad judgement - or a questionable judgement - or a good judgement that proves wrong in later investigation. But when police departments across the nation are found to be guilty of persistent profiling, including the use of deadly force, in gross percentages - then the issue of protest is grossly validated.
Your rant is revealing.
Revealing that you have absolutely no grasp of the issues and their factual statistics.
Revealing that you believe Blacks are inherently more criminal than whites. (Did you say this? Yes: "has it dawned on you, there may be a reason for all this?" ... Plain as day Nita) You apparently can't grasp that the Black community is alienated from cooperating with law enforcement based on centuries of history of police abuse. You wonder why crime in many Black communities runs high in light of this alienation?
And revealing that you are so short of life perspective as to declare that any person who protests anything must have maintained their position for life. Anyone who comes to epiphany about anything as they mature is marginalized and subject to ridicule.
Intellectually miserable positions to broadcast.
Police dept around the country are being found guilty of persistent profiling and using deadly force, aren't you exaggerating? Who has found them all over the country guilty?
BTW you know nothing about me. If you did you would not have made such a biased and misinformed statement It appears we will never agree on this, so think I am going drop it here by adding one more statement: CK will need to do a lot more than he has if he intends to make any real difference and I don't mean not respecting our flag. Go into the inter cities, talk to kids about staying in school and out of trouble, talk to parents about discipline, about families staying together.
Police dept around the country are being found guilty of persistent profiling and using deadly force, aren't you exaggerating? Who has found them all over the country guilty?
Do you live in a total news vacuum? Rather than list the too-many-to-list investigations of police profiling coast to coast, including multiple U.S. DOJ investigations (Baltimore, Ferguson, Dearborn ........), I'll just link you to a summary article a couple years old that covers the basic bases. You can take it from there:
Quote:
Racial gap in U.S. arrest rates: 'Staggering disparity'
When it comes to racially lopsided arrests, the most remarkable thing about Ferguson, Mo., might be just how ordinary it is. ...
At least 1,581 other police departments across the USA arrest black people at rates even more skewed than in Ferguson, a USA TODAY analysis of arrest records shows. That includes departments in cities as large and diverse as Chicago and San Francisco and in the suburbs that encircle St. Louis, New York and Detroit. ...
At least 70 departments scattered from Connecticut to California arrested black people at a rate 10 times higher than people who are not black, USA TODAY found. ...
Nationwide, blacks are stopped, searched, arrested and imprisoned at rates higher than people of other races. USA TODAY's analysis, using arrests reported to the federal government in 2011 and 2012, found that those inequities are far wider in many cities across the country, from St. Louis to Atlanta to suburban Dearborn, Mich. ...
To measure the breadth of arrest disparities, USA TODAY examined data that police departments report to the FBI each year. For each agency, USA TODAY compared the number of black people arrested during 2011 and 2012 with the number who lived in the area the department protects. ...
The review showed:
• Blacks are more likely than others to be arrested in almost every city for almost every type of crime. Nationwide, black people are arrested at higher rates for crimes as serious as murder and assault, and as minor as loitering and marijuana possession.
• Arrest rates are particularly lopsided in some pockets of the country, including St. Louis' Missouri suburbs near Ferguson. In St. Louis County alone, more than two dozen police departments had arrest rates more lopsided than Ferguson's. ...
• Deep disparities show up even in progressive university towns. USA TODAY found police in Berkeley, Calif., and Madison, Wis., arrested black people at a rate more than nine times higher than members of other racial groups. Madison Police Chief Michael Koval said most of the arrests happen in the poorest sections of the city, which are disproportionately black, and where some residents have pleaded for even more police presence. Still, he said, "I think it would be remiss to suggest the police get out of this whole thing with a free pass. We have to constantly be doing the introspective look at who we are hiring and how we are training."
• Arrest rates are lopsided almost everywhere. Only 173 of the 3,538 police departments USA TODAY examined arrested black people at a rate equal to or lower than other racial groups. ...
The article also fairly and appropriately covers the reality that this extreme disparity has more to it than simply police profiling and bias. It is rooted in the aggregate of community socio-economic issues. However, the dynamic of profiling bias rises to top tier as a cyclic contributor to the aggregate.
In addition to simple review of police statistics nationwide, as covered in this older article, as I wrote above, you have DOJ investigations in multiple cities / communities nationwide that specifically find gross fault with police department profiling. The government even felt compelled to file suit against Ferguson, MO. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.c7fe19731fe4
BTW you know nothing about me. If you did you would not have made such a biased and misinformed statement It appears we will never agree on this, so think I am going drop it here by adding one more statement: CK will need to do a lot more than he has if he intends to make any real difference and I don't mean not respecting our flag. Go into the inter cities, talk to kids about staying in school and out of trouble, talk to parents about discipline, about families staying together.
I know what you write, nita. And here you have, once again, turned to vilifying Blacks as social failures responsible for the discrimination against them - rather than understanding how this ugly dynamic has come into being and perpetuation.
Going to the "inter [sic] cities, talk to kids about staying in school and out of trouble, talk to parents about discipline, about families staying together" has been and continues to be done for decades and decades by all kinds of public figures. It's fine. Some youth take away a message. Most don't. Because? Talk is cheap. Little to nothing has changed. And, in this case, the issue is the part of community estrangement from law enforcement that is the result of failure at the department level to engage fairly and professionally with Black America. In this case, the message is aimed at forcing the issue of equality in policing on America.
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