It was just a stunt. The National Football League took President Trump’s words of firing any player who knelt during the Anthem by doing the one thing they knew was going to upset him. The most prominent of the teams to kneel were “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys. On Friday, September 29, the Cowboys linked arms in solidarity and knelt before the anthem played, along with their owner, Jerry Jones. Once the flag was brought out, the team stood up. Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant, responded by saying that kneeling was a way to publicly oppose Trump’s criticism of the NFL.
Nine days later, the Cowboys played against the Green Bay Packers, the anthem played and the team stood for the anthem this time while holding their hands over their hearts. Two black players, Damontre Moore and David Irving rose their fists in the air once the anthem concluded. Moore said that he had been doing so all year and it was not meant to disrespect the flag whatsoever. But, Jerry Jones—eager to protect the Cowboys reputation as “America’s Team,” said, “If there is anything disrespecting the flag, then we will not play. Period. We’re going to respect the flag and I’m going to create the perception of it.”
Two players raise their fists in solidarity of the injustice of black people being killed by police and now they have to worry about not having a job if they do it again. That is pretty much what it comes down to. It’s “listen to me and do what I say or you can kiss your position goodbye.” It is just another form of silencing black people for wanting to stand up for themselves. This is where ESPN’s Jemele Hill comes in. Hill, a sports commentator, tweeted that if anyone (meaning the fans) was mad at Jones’ comments then they should boycott the Cowboys’ advertisers.
This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
Due to these comments made by Hill, ESPN made the swift decision to suspend her for two weeks which began this past Monday. If there is one thing that sticks out to me about this entire thing it is that the President has come for Hill directly. On on top of that, he never once said a thing when Ms.Texas spoke out about him during the Miss America pageant last month, or when just last night Eminem came for him in his rap cypher. But because a black woman calls him out and calls him a “white supremacist” and a “bigot,” it’s a problem.
Black women have the same freedom of speech that any other white person does. Black women should not have to be reprimanded for speaking what they feel. Stop trying to silence us because it is never going to work. Now, I will say that there is a line that can be crossed, and it should be understood, but at the end of the day, white women and men can carry on about their day after they call someone as powerful as the President of the United States, but a black woman does the exact same thing and all hell breaks loose.
In conclusion, wear your seat belts, eat your vegetables, drink almond milk, and continue to stand up for yourselves friends.
P.S. Buy “Mi Gente” by J. Balvin, Willy William and Beyonce and “Almost Like Praying” by Lin-Manuel Miranda featuring Artists for Puerto Rico on iTunes! All of the proceeds will be going to Puerto Rico for hurricane relief.
