Chamblee54

This is a repost from 2016 … In 2014, the St. Louis Rams ran onto the field with their hands over their heads. For an official, it means touchdown. With the Rams, it meant “hands up don’t shoot.”
When Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson MO, witnesses said he had his hands up. Later investigations indicate that “Brown never surrendered with his hands up.” While controversy over Mr. Brown’s death continues, very few people maintain that he had his hands up when he died.
A little over a year later, the St. Louis Rams announced a move to Los Angeles. There are various reasons for the move. It basically comes down to money. The NFL wants a team in Los Angeles. The Rams want to make more money. The hands up gesture became a hands out.
Athletes have traditionally been role models. Their opinions are solicited on a wide range of subjects. Some people question whether the ability to play a game qualifies someone to render these judgements. While football players are entitled to have opinions, the question remains: why should we care? Social justice is not a product endorsement.
Recently Cam Newton gave an interview to GQ magazine. Mr. Newton modeled some clothes, with apparent enthusiasm. Mr. Newton said “I don’t want this to be about race, because it’s not. It’s not. Like, we’re beyond that. As a nation.” It was the social media sensation of the day.
As you may have guessed, this brings us to Colin Kaepernick. He is certainly entitled to his opinion. @Kaepernick7 is a second string quarterback, who has asked to be traded. With his nine figure salary, there is a chance he will be cut from the team. Why is Colin Kaepernick suddenly taken seriously as an authority on race relations?
Most reports on Mr. Kaepernick have a 59 word summary of the comments to NFL media. You have to do a bit of digging to see the full transcript. Google is not a perfect tool. Perhaps someone does not want people to see the complete interview.
Number seven makes a few interesting comments. There are few specific solutions offered. The problem of citizen on citizen killing is not mentioned. Mr. Kaepernick does not come across as a deep thinker. When he is asked how teammates feel about his protest, number seven replies “I hope they stand with me.” Is he sitting down, or standing up?
NFL Media “In your mind have you been pulled over unjustly or had bad experiences?” CK: “Yes, multiple times. I’ve had times where one of my roommates was moving out of the house in college and because we were the only black people in that neighborhood the cops got called and we had guns drawn on us. Came in the house, without knocking, guns drawn on my teammates and roommates. So I have experienced this. People close to me have experienced this. This isn’t something that’s a one-off case here or a one-off case there. This has become habitual. This has become a habit. So this is something that needs to be addressed.”…
NM: “Does the election year have anything to do with timing? CK: It wasn’t a timing thing, it wasn’t something that was planned. But I think the two presidential candidates that we currently have also represent the issues that we have in this country right now.
NM:Do you want to expand on that? CK: You have Hillary who has called black teens or black kids super predators, you have Donald Trump who’s openly racist. We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally … That doesn’t make sense to me because if that was any other person you’d be in prison. So, what is this country really standing for?
NM: It is a country that has elected a black president twice CK: It has elected a black president but there are also a lot of things that haven’t changed. There are a lot of issues that still haven’t been addressed and that’s something over an eight-year term there’s a lot of those things are hard to change and there’s a lot of those things that he doesn’t necessarily have complete control over.
NM: What would be a success? CK: That’s a tough question because there’s a lot of things that need to change, a lot of different issues that need to be addressed. That’s something that it’s really hard to lock down one specific thing that needs to change currently.”