#BreakTheNFL The NFL owners decision to ban African American players from kneeling in protest against incidents of unjustified killing of black citizens by law enforcement during the national anthem is an assault on the dignity and citizenship of all African Americans. it represents a clear calculation by the NFL owners that it is more profitable for them to be enablers of racism than Justice. Their decision should not be permitted to stand unchallenged or unanswered.
A for-profit league whose teams are composed of 70% African American players should not be allowed to profit from the labor of African American citizens they employ while simultaneously enabling the suppression of their dissent against racial Injustice. in a more perfect world, the players union would denounce this action and all players would refuse to take the field until this decision was reversed. I do not believe the Players Union would be willing to take such a stand, although they should. It falls to the African American players, to their fellow African American citizens and to all persons of goodwill who understand essential wrongness and racism of the owner's decision, to give a definitive answer. In taking this decision, the owners intend to compel the silence of black players by holding their livelihoods hostage.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. The NFL owners should be confronted with the same mutually assured financial destruction of the value of their franchises if they do not rescind this policy. The league is made up of 70% African American players. Every single one of those players should refuse to take the field for a regular season game in the 2018 season until this policy by the owners is rescinded.
Such an action will require the same commitment and courage that Colin Kaepernick has displayed. It will require a willingness to accept the possibility of defeat and take a stand anyway. It will require the same resolve that was displayed during the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 381 days. African American players must do what Montgomery protesters did. They must plan this action, prepare for it, announce their intention to do it and if the decision is not rescinded, implement this protest unrelentingly until it is.
The African American players must not be expected to do it alone either. All of black America must stand with them in this fight, because they will be on the front lines, fighting for our dignity as citizens. That means as individuals, we don't watch football, we don't buy merch, and we do everything in our power to cut off any and all direct or indirect financial support of the NFL from our own pockets. In addition, we ask our non white friends and neighbors of goodwill who understand why the NFL cannot be permitted to assault the dignity and citizenship of African Americans and profit from it, to stand with us and to also deny the NFL their financial support. We use crowdfunding mechanisms to raise money to help ensure that the players who expose themselves to potential financial ruin in this fight, can feed their families, obtain health care and survive the hardship that will certainly befall them as the owners employ every tool at their disposal to break their resolve.
Collectively, African American organizations from the NAACP to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, from the Divine Nine to every type of black professional organization, should collaborate to enable and force multiply the financial impact of a black player walkout.
This is the proper and required response to a multi-billion dollar for-profit entity like the NFL deciding that it is more profitable to enable racism against African American citizens than to support justice for African American citizens. If it is allowed to stand, the message sent to every other powerful for-profit company or group of business people is that its good business to knuckle under to racial bigotry and disregard the dignity and citizenship of African American citizens. It is not in the interest of Black America to permit business models to operate in this fashion with impunity. It must be decisively demonstrated that enablement of racism against African Americans for profit DOES NOT PAY. #BreakTheNFL
