Hi all,
AS I've said here before, I am what I'd call a guilty football fan. I guess
it's almost like an addictive drug. ON Sunday afternoons in the fall, it's time
to crack open a beer and watch or listen to football. I suppose I'll come to my
senses someday and give up football, but it won't be easy. It may be easier to
quit football after Brady and Bellichick have retired from the New England
patriots.
AS for the National Anthem, the last time I stood for it was in Louisville at
the 2008 ACB convention. Like carl, I didn't want to make a spectacle of
myself. I have never liked that our national anthem is a song of war. Even if
America cleaned up it's act, I would still dislike the national anthem. IT
would be much easier to support a song like America the Beautiful.
No doubt, Kaepernick has been shafted here. IF I were putting together a team,
I'd pick him over Jay Cutler.
When Brady got screwed in the deflate gate matter I started calling the NFL a
"den of thieves." They actually suspended brady for longer than other players
who beat up wives and girlfriends.
One final note, If Keapernick were a really good player like tom brady, the
owners would allow him back in, protests and all. And, though I love to watch
brady lead the Patriots to victory, by his support of Trump he has shown us
that he doesn't much care about the little guy.
When it comes to football, Vince Lombardi put it best. "Winning isn't
everything, it's the only thing."
Bob Hachey
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey ;
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2017 3:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Frank Ventura
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: For the football fans on this list
No, use the clenched fist salute.
On 8/13/2017 6:58 AM, Frank Ventura wrote:
I wonder if we should stand and hold our hand straight out in the form of the
Nazi salute as I think that is where we are heading.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 9:25 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: For the football fans on this list
It took me a bit longer, but I also do not sing or speak when asked to please
stand and...
As I say, I do stand when requested. But I do that mostly in order to not
become a point of distraction. I am not attempting to start a conversation,
or to convert others, I am merely following through on my commitment to
myself that I would not pledge allegiance until that flag truly did represent
Freedom and Justice for **ALL.
And of course the same is true of the national anthem. Singing, "...Oh say
does that star spangled banner yet wave, o'er the Land of the Free and the
Home of the Brave." I will return to singing when the last words apply to
All Americans.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is football patriotic? Is baseball? Anyway, I am a blnd person and I
stopped saluting the flag and saying the pledge of allegiance during
the Vietnam war. I never resumed either practice.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Abby ;
Vincent
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 6:03 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: For the football fans on this list
My spectator sport is baseball.
When the umpire says "play ball", I want to see baseball, not politics.
Anyone know of a blind person, famous or not, who protested the
status of blind people by refusing to take part in a patriotic ritual?
Abbby
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam ;
Vieni
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 2:08 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: For the football fans on this list
But the article raises another question in my head. When are all the
good hearted American people going to stop watching a sport which is
the cause of such devastating injury to the brains of young men? Is
the answer the same as to the question, When will people stop supporting
warfare?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl ;
Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2017 3:18 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: For the football fans on this list
When Donald Trump is finally nothing more than a chapter in the
History of the United States, and has been relegated to the place of
America's most outrageous president, Kaepernick will be a footnote
nestled among the chapter entitled, "Bravest and Most Fearless
Americans". Frankly, after a long lifetime of traveling among Trump
Clones, I would far prefer the company of those courageous heroes.
They are the "beautiful people".
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Electronic Intifada
Colin Kaepernick pays price of standing up for justice
Michael F. Brown Activism and BDS Beat 11 August 2017
Outspoken quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been bypassed by inferior
players in Trump's America.
(Jasen Vinlove / USA TODAY Sports)
All-Pro Seattle Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman is right.
National Football League (NFL) owners are telling Colin Kaepernick,
"Boy, stay in your place."
Kaepernick is the outspoken backer of the Black Lives Matter
movement who sat and then knelt during the national anthem last year
and cannot find a job for the 2017 season.
And the term "boy," used by white segregationists in the American
South to denigrate and belittle Black men, is no overstatement.
Team owners oversee a violent league with intense play that
frequently inflicts life-long brain injuries on players.
NFL players, nearly 70 percent of them African American, are used by
team owners and then discarded like unwanted property - often with
broken bodies and minds - after less than three years on average.
Reluctantly, the league has agreed to a $1 billion settlement that
could pay off the most injured players with as much as $5 million
for a tortured deterioration into dementia and suicidal depression.
Similarly, returning US troops face inadequate and inappropriate
treatment for depression, suicide risk and post-traumatic stress
disorder, but white fans who roar that Kaepernick is disrespecting
the troops appear to have far less to say about the wars and their
consequences for US military forces, let alone for civilians in the
invaded countries.
No doubt players and fans love the game, but questions are fast
emerging in the minds of both about the wisdom of involvement in the
sport and the morals of cheering as minds and bodies are destroyed.
The treatment of Kaepernick is apt to concentrate the minds of more
players on the relative risks and rewards of football and how
willing owners are to abuse players' bodies while discounting the
substance of their views.
A year ago, Kaepernick, then playing with the San Francisco 49ers,
dared to protest during the national anthem, telling a journalist
with NFL Media his views on police violence: "I am not going to
stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black
people and people of color."
He added, "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be
selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the
street and people [police] getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
Should the regular season begin on 7 September with Kaepernick still
unsigned, player leaders will have important decisions to make about
how to proceed.
Questions to the NFL Players Association from The Electronic
Intifada about Kaepernick's case went unanswered.
"Cowards"
Seahawk defensive end Michael Bennett, who this offseason said he
would "not be used" by the Israeli government in a planned
propaganda trip to Israel, argued that Kaepernick's treatment "shows
the racial divide in the league."
He added, "Racism is the biggest issue in America."
Malcolm Jenkins, a safety with the Philadelphia Eagles who stood
with fist raised during the national anthem last season, called the
NFL teams "cowards."
Jenkins dismissed the argument that Kaepernick is no longer good
enough to play in the NFL. "I think it's safe to throw out that
talent argument, and basically focus on the fact that he doesn't
have a job solely because he didn't stand for the anthem last year,
even though he already expressed that he planned on standing this year."
Kaepernick opted out of his contract with the 49ers in March, but
has found no team willing to sign him to a new contract.
Racism in the NFL
Meanwhile, teams have signed inferior quarterbacks, supercharging
concerns of bias and even possible collusion.
Serious questions are being put to the Baltimore Ravens and Miami
Dolphins following injuries to their starting quarterbacks.
Baltimore, of course, has been much in the news of late on account
of the sort of police misconduct Kaepernick has highlighted.
And some fans of the Dolphins along with Florida-based sports
pundits have criticized Kaepernick over his views of Fidel Castro
after the quarterback praised Cuba's investments in promoting
literacy and universal healthcare, as opposed to incarceration, as
well as Cuba's support for the fight against apartheid in South Africa.
The Dolphins chose to replace their injured quarterback with Jay
Cutler who is widely regarded as a weaker quarterback than
Kaepernick, albeit one who previously played for the Chicago Bears'
offensive coordinator Adam Gase, who is now the Dolphins' head coach.
Cutler's politics, in contrast to Kaepernick's, have proven to be no
obstacle. "I'm happy with the results," Cutler said after last
November's election. "I've supported Trump for a while. I'm not
going to dive into it.
I know it's a sensitive issue. I like where it's going."
These are telling and prescient remarks from a white quarterback who
would come out of retirement the following year to secure a one-year
contract worth $10 million in a hateful political climate nurtured
by a president who has repeatedly given nods to white supremacists
and has bad-mouthed Kaepernick.
But white supremacy is increasingly normalized in today's politics;
a quarterback speaking out against racial injustice is perceived as
a danger by too many NFL owners.
Of course, it is not recalling ancient history to remember that this
is a league that long stuck with white quarterbacks over African
Americans.
Black
players were kept in what The New York Times' Michael Powell termed
"apartheid positions." Seventy percent of the players in the NFL
today are African American yet discrimination remains a reality when
one looks at the quarterback position and coaching ranks.
Sending a message
Team owners - who are almost exclusively white - are also sending a
message to other players to be very cautious about speaking up about
police abuses and other issues not in line with the perceived
sensitivities of white fans.
Even if Kaepernick finally gets offered a contract this summer, the
message has been delivered to athletes: keep your mouths shut on
social justice issues, particularly when the national anthem is
being played.
Kaepernick is best known for his support of Black Lives Matter, but
has wide-ranging social justice interests. For example, earlier this
year he retweeted a message critical of Israeli apartheid.
Though on a San Francisco team that struggled mightily throughout
last season - which likely contributes to undercutting Kaepernick's
perceived value - the quarterback's off-the-field work was
enthusiastically received in many communities.
As law professor Khaled Beydoun noted, Kaepernick held 'know your rights'
camps for youth, pledged $1 million of his own money to nonprofits
working against oppression and helped fight famine in Somalia.
Yet so far, many fans calling sports radio and writing letters to
the editor have indicated they would rather field a quiescent team
and lose than one calling for equality and win.
"Racial attitudes had a notable relationship to white opposition to
athletes' protests," Tatishe M. Nteta, Brian Schaffner and Matthew C.
MacWilliams wrote in The Washington Post in April.
The three political scientists said their polling demonstrates a
strong relationship "between holding negative stereotypes of Blacks
and strong opposition to the protests."
Powerful tradition
Kaepernick's calls for social justice and against police misconduct
follow in the powerful tradition of athletes addressing important
issues of the time. These protests have been fitful because of the
powerful backlash they face.
Muhammad Ali, whose image can be seen emblazoned from time to time
on a Kaepernick T-shirt, was one of the most famous of these
protesters and paid a heavy price. Ali, a conscientious objector,
was first stripped of his heavyweight title and then fined $10,000,
banned from boxing for three years and sentenced to up to five years behind
bars.
He managed through appeal to stay out of prison.
Ali's words from the time, however, live on: "I ain't got no quarrel
with them Viet Cong." A supporter of Palestinian rights, Ali - first
debilitated by Parkinson's disease and now just a vibrant memory -
is currently heralded by mainstream media that spoke against him
half a century ago.
Eminent sociologist Harry Edwards, who advised Kaepernick last
season, said in May: "Ali created a conversation."
He added: "when the world champion steps forward and says, 'No Viet
Cong ever called me a (expletive), and we have some issue we need to
deal with here, not over there in a war that make no sense,' it
moved the discussion to another level."
According to Edwards, Kaepernick similarly "sparked a national
conversation about race."
Trump takes credit
For all the talk of the American "meritocracy," there is seeming
satisfaction in Trump's America with whiteballing a superior athlete
on account of his upholding the rights of African Americans and
other people of color.
Even the president has not been silent on the case. Apparently
peeved that Kaepernick dared to call the Republican presidential
candidate "openly racist" - at the time, Kaepernick also criticized
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her racially
charged "superpredator" comment
-
Trump told a radio program that perhaps Kaepernick "should find a
country that works better for him."
As president, Trump also played to the crowd by indicating NFL
owners were afraid to sign Kaepernick lest they be on the receiving
end of a Trump tweet.
"It was reported that NFL owners don't want to pick him up because
they don't want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you
believe that?" As the crowd's roars of approval subside, Trump
exults, "I just saw that. I just saw that."
Trump has not lacked for support from NFL owners. Team owners Dan
Snyder of the openly racist Washington Redskins, Stan Kroenke, Bob
McNair and Shahid Kahn all contributed $1 million for inauguration
festivities. So, too, did Robert Kraft who has been active in
promoting propaganda trips to Israel by current and former NFL players.
Trump-connected Woody Johnson, owner of the Jets, for his part
signed a weaker option in Josh McCown to play quarterback for his
lackluster team.
According to The New York Times, the team owner "opined that he did
not think much of Kaepernick's protest." Notably, Johnson will be
the next US ambassador to the UK.
Writing in the The Hollywood Reporter, retired basketball superstar
and former US global cultural ambassador Kareem Abdul-Jabbar raised
concerns about the political leanings of NFL owners as a factor in
Kaepernick's
situation: "Perhaps a contributing factor is that the NFL owners
tend to contribute more money to Republican political campaigns and
therefore have more of a philosophical interest in not wanting to
hear the players'
messages about social injustice."
The owners undoubtedly have a friend in Trump. Not only does the
president extol the virtues of getting rough with people detained by
police, but he scoffs at football concussions as "a little ding on
the head" that should not stop players who are supposed to be "tough."
He is moreover surrounded by advisers who engage in racism and are
dismissive of social justice concerns.
Next steps
It remains to be seen whether we have reached a tipping point for
players concerned not just about brain injuries, but their right to
speak freely.
Will players such as Kaepernick, Martellus and Michael Bennett, and
Malcolm Jenkins continue to speak out and find more teammates to
support them or will the retaliation against Kaepernick have a
chilling effect?
Edwards, the sociologist who advised Kaepernick, says, "If they are
stupid enough to make a martyr out of Kaep, it's going to get even
more interesting."
Civil rights groups and filmmaker Spike Lee have announced a rally
outside NFL headquarters in New York on 23 August in support of
racial justice and free speech.
An online petition to boycott NFL games until Kaepernick is signed
to a contract has already garnered over 150,000 signatures and is
growing quickly.
