How ironic. On the same day the National Football League owners announced their decision to ban player protest during the national anthem, the video exposing the barbaric behaviors of Milwaukee police was released. Sterling Brown, Milwaukee Bucks player, was tased and arrested for a parking violation. There will be no charges against the NBA player but that hasn’t silenced him. Neither will it silence most black ballers.
What any self-respecting black person – athlete or not – heard in the white owners’ decision is: We don’t care about what happens to you as a citizen; we just want to use your black body to make money for us.
The wannabe dictator in the White House declared that players need to “proudly” stand for the flag or they “shouldn’t be playing” and that “maybe they shouldn’t be in the country.” What?!
The owners have allowed Trump to dictate league policy. Worse, they have allowed him to fan the same flames of racism in the league as he has done throughout the country.
It’s clear to me the NFL cow-towed to Trump, who has been railing against football players since Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem to protest police terrorism in black communities. In retaliation, the former San Francisco 49er quarterback is now a free agent with no team wanting to sign him up anytime soon. He also has a lawsuit against his former employer.
Sterling Brown has accepted the responsibility to use the injustice against him to speak out against a police department with a long and brutal history in Milwaukee’s African-American community. Brown has vowed to be the voice of police victims of brutality and murder in his city. He knows damn well if he was not an NBA player, this incident would not have seen the light of day. Brown also knows he’s lucky to be alive.
Brown understands the frustrated anger of black folks when he said, “The lack of repercussions for the police officers involved in so many of these cases is offensive. This is a slap in the face to the victims’ families and communities.” Black and Brown folks are getting tired of those 24/7 slaps.
Since 2015 Milwaukee taxpayers have forked out about $20 million in settlements to victims of police violence. Rogue cops are bankrupting the cash-strapped city which has had to borrow the money for the payoffs. Still, no accountability is forthcoming. Not in Milwaukee. Not in any U.S. city.
The NFL has made the anthem protests the scapegoat for its diminishing profits. It has its own set of issues, such as assignments of specialty positions to white players like quarterbacks, punters and place kickers. Note that the league has no black owners and nearly 70 percent black players.
Make no mistake about the NFL decision. It is not about respect for the anthem. If that was the case, the concession stands would be closed in the name of patriotism until after singing of the anthem. This is about shutting down Black protests of white supremacy. And we know it’s not just happening in the sports arenas.
The NFL is naïve to think that sending black men to a locker room like they’re naughty boys is a solution. I can’t wait to see what acts of creative resistance will come from men who have been forced to swallow their pride and hide their anger to maintain a job they love.
