Penalty Box: Kaep v. NFL
Read Time: 3:52
Colin Kaepernick made headlines this week when he sat during the national anthem in order to call attention to racial inequity in the US. And a lot of people, anonymous NFL execs included, don’t like what he did. Apparently, sitting in silence isn’t acceptable, so maybe we can find a better way to talk about race in the NFL.
Should we talk about what percentage of Owners are non-white, versus what percentage of Players are non-white? Should we ask how there is an overwhelming majority of white QBs in a league predominantly comprised of men of color?
Nah, let’s skip all that.
In fact, let’s go outside the NFL. Let’s take a broader view and remember how the NBA recently dealt with the reality of racism, fatly and whitely embodied by Donald Sterling, former owner of the LA Clippers.
Sterling got caught on tape being the disgusting racist that everyone already knew he was, and soon after his hearings, was forced to sell the team. –Never mind the TAX free $2B that Sterling got from the sale; the important thing is that he was banned, for life, from the NBA by Commissioner Adam Silver.
But the way Adam Silver stood against Donald Sterling was unprecedented–and although I thought it was swift and perfect, any way you slice it, it was unconstitutional. Is there any other place in America, besides professional sports, where you can force someone out of business because they’re a flagrant racist?
No where. No fucking where. Because technically it’s not constitutional. And if we could put people out of business for being terrible racists, then I guarantee that US Congress, our current cesspool of presidential candidates and even Silicon Valley would look a whole lot different.
Direct from Adam Silver’s transcript, wherein he bans Sterling from the NBA:
“The views expressed by Mr. Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful. That they came from an NBA owner only heightens the damage and my personal outrage. Sentiments of this kind are contrary to the principles of inclusion and respect that form the foundation of our diverse, multicultural, and multiethnic league.”
Adam Silver: doing it right. And in reacting to what Kaepernick did, the NFL should have ripped a play straight out of the NBA playbook. With one stroke of effective cribbing from Silver’s notes, they might have said:
“The views expressed by Colin Kaepernick are completely understandable. That they came from an NFL player hopefully heightens the awareness of the reality of the situation…Sentiments of this kind are exactly what spark conversations relevant to the foundation of our diverse, multicultural and multiethnic league.”
If Goodell or the Yorks acknowledged the reality of the racial truth, the statistical truth that Kaep is talking about—then it might, and I’m saying might, change some minds. But you rightly may wonder: aside from staving off another season of bad PR, why should Goodell and the Yorks sit with Kaep?
Because it matters more when Big Money speaks. Because the Yorks travel all the time, and because they know what the rest of America looks like. Because they’ve seen the inequities and they know they’re blessed to be on the right side of them. Goodell and the Yorks should sit with Kaep because they don’t have to worry so quite much about money and careers; because they can act above the law that governs you and me, and because they are leaders in a league and a nation where the divisiveness of racism is still a defining characteristic.
Because they can say something, they should say something.
Roger Goodell or the Yorks could have easily issued a statement, and they could have literally ripped it from Adam Silver (a la Melania Trump). And if they had decided to sit with Kaep, they might not look and sound so much like modern-day slave owners.
IN THE PENALTY BOX:
Roger Goodell & 49ers Management and Ownership
GROSS MISCONDUCT PENALTY:
Not standing (or sitting) with Kaepernick on one of the most divisive issues that still defines America.
PENALTY SHOT RESULT:
Kaepernick gets the point for using his celebrity in a socially and politically valuable way, which is more than we can say for most.
Current Sh*t 