THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — On Monday the NFL owners unanimously approved a new national anthem policy which requires players to stand if they are on the field durin’ the playin’ of the anthem. Now they do have the option to stay in the locker room, which was the protocol before 2009. It wasn’t until then that the league got in bed with the Department of Defense and startin’ takin’ money from them to promote patriotism because enlistments were down. Facts!!
The policy allows the NFL to fine any player or team personnel for sittin’, kneelin’ or showin’ any “disrespect” to the flag.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! If we’re goin’ to call this AMERICA and hold up the principles of it’s Constitution then let’s define what the flag stands for, especially the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over other and also restricting an individuals religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.
Therefore, players that are peaceably protestin’ are exercisin’ their constitutional right to do so. Therefore, they aren’t bein’ disrespectful to the flag. They are actually livin’ up to the true meanin’ of what the flag represents because it empowers them to do exactly what they’re doin’.
However, this isn’t about the flag. This is about people not carin’ about the oppression of black folks in America. They would rather the players hide it in a corner underneath the bed and act like it’s all good in the America and that EVERYBODY gets treated fairly in this country.
Colin Kaepernick stated very clearly that he was protestin’ police brutality, social and racial injustice in America. He was simply usin’ his platform to make people aware of what was happenin’ to people of color in this country because so many unarmed black men and women were bein’ killed by police officers who have been sworn in to “protect and serve.”
Please don’t try to bring up the fact that 93 percent of all black homicides are committed by black people because 83 percent of all white homicides are committed by white folks. Folks tend to get into squabbles with people that look like them because for the most part we still live in a segregated society. Stop with that foolishness. The gangstas and thugs shootin’ and killin’ each other weren’t sworn in to protect and serve the community.
People that cared nothin’ about police brutality, social and racial injustice turned this into the foolishness of players disrespectin’ the flag. Unfortunately, there are a lot of ignorant individuals in this country that have never read the constitution and don’t have a clue as to what the flag actually represents. It represents freedom, freedom of speech, freedom to be whoever you would like to be, freedom of expression and the freedom to peaceably protest.
Don’t get it twisted, the NFL owners run the joint and they can do whatever they chose to do. However, please stop tellin’ me that they care about the 70 percent of players that look like me because this policy proves that they don’t. Just because a player is rich or is assumed to be rich doesn’t mean that he or his family doesn’t still have to deal with racism in America because they do.
Unfortunately, nothin’ has changed in America but the dates on the calendar. You can’t even be black and sit down in a Starbucks for a meetin’ without bein’ arrested. You can’t be black studyin’ for finals and fall asleep in your own dorm on an Ivy League campus without havin’ the cops called on you. You can’t be black and use the restroom in a Houston’s restaurant for more than 10 minutes in Atlanta without them callin’ 911. You surely, can’t sell loose cigarettes, reach for your wallet durin’ a traffic stop after bein’ told to, play with a toy gun at age 13 in Cleveland or walk to the store with your hood on outside without bein’ killed if your black in America. And oh yeah, you can’t be an NBA player in Milwaukee and double park in an empty Walgreens parkin’ lot at 2am without gettin’ bum rushed by a bunch of cowards in uniform that only get internally disciplined and not fired.
When none of these issues affect you it’s easy to say that these players are bein’ disrespectful to the flag because you live in a world where none of this foolishness exists. You don’t have to worry about your 17 year old son bein’ pulled over by the police for “drivin’ while black” or simply bein’ born in the wrong skin. It’s disrespectful that you simply don’t care. Stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo isn’t real but its real talk!