We're hearing and reading more about a growing complaint from the Kaepernick apologists in the media. They're upset that Kaepernick's original protest against police brutality and racial inequality has been morphed into the suddenly offensive call for unity. Sports Illustrated's Jimmy Traina is lecturing everyone -- especially two star white quarterbacks -- to cut the disgusting unity talk and get back to bashing police.
"Personally, I was uncomfortable Thursday night when CBS made this whole national anthem controversy about Aaron Rodgers -- a white player -- and a call for unity," Traina started today's blog:
The big story, according to CBS, was that Rodgers wanted everyone in the stadium, players and fans, to lock arms for a show of unity. Unity was not why Colin Kapernick took a knee during the national anthem last season. Rodgers being lauded for his idea shows how far this issue has spun into a totally different place.
Race hustling is more Traina's style. He reminds his readers that Kaepernick refused to stand last season for the Star Spangled Banner because to do so would amount to showing "pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color." Traina beefed ...
If Rodgers wants to make an impact, he should speak out about racial inequality, not unity. And I'm not picking on Rodgers here. This goes for every NFL player, coach, GM, owner and broadcaster. Stop talking about unity. Doing nothing at this point would be more helpful than just making these complicated waters murkier by pivoting to unity. The same thing goes for Drew Brees -- shocker, another white player -- who tweeted this Friday morning:
To Traina, the kumbaya unity message wrongly dilutes Kaepernick's movement:
The Saints -- like the Cowboys' did earlier this week when they kneeled before the national anthem, but stood during the playing of the song -- are just trying to play both sides of the fence. Either take a knee during the anthem or stand for the anthem. Kneeling before the anthem and then standing for it -- or locking arms during it -- is the biggest cop out possible. It's saying, "This is a really difficult subject and everyone, including our owner, the President of the United States and fans are pissed off at us and we don't really want to bring light to what Kaepernick's point was because it's a very uncomfortable subject, so we'll just keep everyone happy with this empty feel-good gesture.
Traina praised former Houston Texans' running back Arian Foster, an African-American, for busting Brees, in a tweet of his own:
The Sports Illustrated writer is an outlier and neither Americans or the NFL are buying his demand for a return to the racial focus. An overwhelming majority of Americans polled are appalled by the blatant race hustling of kneeling football players. And the New York Giants' Jonathan Casillas said “the owners for sure don’t want us kneeling ... ."
