On Tuesday the NFL and Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Rock Nation, announced a partnership where the two organizations would be teaming up. Rock Nation would be handling the NFL’s entertainment arm including the Super Bowl halftime show and working closely with the league on social activism. Folks went nuts blasting Jay for the rest of the week because he didn’t include Colin Kaepernick in the discussions leading up to closing the deal with the league.
So many people are stuck on Colin not having a job as a result of him opting out of the final year of his contract with the 49ers that he restructured to allow himself to opt out and no one picked him up. He, of course, was blackballed by the NFL owners which led to him suing the league for collision. He eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
Now folks are mad at Jay-Z for doing business with the NFL when the league came to him to help move the needle forward in terms of social activism. What’s crazy to me is that folks are doing the same thing with Jay-Z as they were doing with Kaepernick. They’re changing the narrative.
Fans were spitting mad saying that Kaepernick was disrespecting the flag when they knew better. He’d already said loud and clear that he was protesting police brutality, racial and social injustice. However, ignorant folks were pushing the narrative that he was disrespecting the flag. That only showed us how ignorant people really are.
Now that Jay-Z, who is a billionaire with street credibility and a history of speaking out on racial and social injustice, has an opportunity to work with the NFL on social activism people are mad that he didn’t ask for Colin’s job back before taking the job.
Remember, Colin walked away from his job and settled out of court. That means that he took the money to go away quietly. His protest and the foolishness of the owners blackballing him created the situation we have today with them trying to save face and do something about it. So you’re telling me that nobody’s ever supposed to take a job with the league to try to help better social activism? That makes no sense!!
Are we supposed to just stop the movement at Kaepernick’s kneeling? His kneeling opened the flood gates for folks to try to help repair the damage out here. Folks that are mad at Jay-Z sound just as crazy as Eric Reid being upset with Malcolm Jenkins, the co-founder of the Player’s Coalition, for brokering an $89 million social justice partnership with the NFL last year because he felt like they betrayed Kaepernick.
However, he’s the same guy that told the Carolina Panthers before they signed him that he would find other ways to protest instead of kneeling. That’s why he’s got a job today but cats like Malcolm Jenkins and Jay-Z can’t work with the NFL to try to right the wrongs by putting money into partnerships to help advance the cause? Who’s fooling who?
Using Eric Reid’s logic didn’t he sellout Kaepernick too? When it got thick he needed a job so he told the Panthers that he would no longer kneel. The same folks mad at Jay-Z this morning should be mad at Reid for leaving his boy at the party in opposing gang territory. I’m just saying. If what I just said sounds crazy I’ve just proved my point.
Again, I’m not saying that Colin wasn’t the spark plug to bring attention to police brutality, racial and social injustice. However, the movement has to proceed to actionable items. The protest is only good if we are moving forward and not standing still. Being stuck on Kaepernick not having a job when he walked away from his job and then settled out of court isn’t the issue. The issue is what are we as a society going to do about police brutality, racial and social injustice?
If the Player’s Coalition can take $89 million from the league and help with social activism and Jay-Z can hold the NFL owners accountable to moving the needle forward we’ve moved done more than just kneel. Now all we need are folks to stop standing on the sidelines being complicit in watching the racism occur on a daily basis and do something about it. We also need folks to stop talking and start VOTING the old racist mind sets and regimes out of office.
During the struggle for Civl Rights in this country folks standing on the sidelines doing nothing even called Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a sellout too. Don’t get caught up in the HYPE and lose focus of what the end game is. The purpose of Kaepernick kneeling was to bring attention to police brutality, racial and social injustice. He was successful in doing that and now the league has given the Player’s Coalition $89 million to help fund their projects and hired Jay-Z to help move things forward. This isn’t about whether Colin has a job or not that he walked away from and then took a settlement to be quiet. Stop me when I start lyin’!
