The president and CEO of the NAACP says the NFL's protesting players are taking a knee out of "reverence of the flag," and President Donald Trump is criticizing protesters in an attempt to deflect attention away from Robert Mueller's investigation. Derrick Johnson made his remarks in an interview with Yahoo Finance's Seana Smith that was reported on by Yahoo's Michael Kelley and Katie Krzaczek.
The Yahoo interview and subsequent online report on Johnson were one-sided softballs. He didn't get any resistance or hardball questions.
Johnson believes that NFL players protesting social injustice by kneeling or extending arm with a clenched fist during the national anthem are doing their "civic duty," and that much of the criticism of their protests is race-related.
Yahoo reports:
"Johnson, who is also CEO of the NAACP, said that he was glad that Kaepernick and other players decided to 'kneel in reverence of the flag,' while also working to get their 'social justice message across.' He noted that the criticism of the predominantly black players highlighting similar causes has historically taken on a racial cast."
Disputing the view that NFL protesters are seen, by many Americans, as villains who are disrespecting the American flag, Johnson says they are only "raising a concern around aggressive policing where unarmed individuals were being shot.” He mentioned just three incidents in support of his over-policing argument.
Johnson adds that “[It] is a historic reality that athletes and entertainers leverage their platform to advance social justice causes that affect them, their families, and the community.”
After Johnson's praise for the protesting NFL players, the conversation moved on to address President Trump's ongoing criticism of NFL protesters. Johnson believes the president has set a "tone of intolerance" and is trying to shift attention away from Mueller's investigation. Yahoo's Kelley and Krzaczek added that "several people in the president’s orbit have been prosecuted."
“I think who we have sitting in the White House, unfortunately, is the unindicted co-conspirator to a potential crime. … So at any chance, we see distractive tactics by this administration to move the conversation away from the investigation that’s taking place. I think that’s what’s happening.”
In Sunday's early NFL games, three members of the Miami Dolphins continued protesting in their customary and disrespectful way during the pre-game playing of the Star Spangled Banner. Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson (seen in photo above) each took a knee, and teammate Robert Quinn raised a defiant fist in the air. Two members of the Seattle Seahawks ― Duane Brown and Quinton Jefferson ― stayed in the locker room during the national anthem. The Philadelphia Eagles' Michael Bennett stayed inside the locker room while the anthem was played.
