America, we need to talk…

America, we need to talk…

Conversations are happening around the country as protest during the national anthem in the NFL continue

sports@theeveningtimes.com

In sporting news this past weekend, America lost its collective freaking mind!

Multiple players around the league protested during the national anthem prior to Sunday’s slate of NFL games and the Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers refused to take the field during the song, following comments made by President Trump this past Saturday.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now. Out!

He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said.

Trump went on to call for fans to boycott the NFL should the anthem protest continue.

Certainly, the protest during the national anthem brings up sensitive feelings to a variety of different people. But, I think it’s important to understand the issue instead of reacting out of ignorance and fear.

The players who protest during the national anthem are not demanding more money or better benefits.

They are not demanding anything. They simply want to be heard and for a discussion to occur about the way minorities are treated in the United States of America.

Is not standing for the national anthem disrespectful to America? Possibly.

But, these protesters feel that America has disrespected them by the unjust way police in particular have treated minorities.

Sure, these NFL players make lots of money and play a sport for a living.

Some may say they have no right to get political.

But, if they don’t who will? The amount of money they make is nil.

These are simply the people who have the largest platform, a platform that will not and has not gone unnoticed. These players feel it is their duty to speak for countless people who would not be heard otherwise.

And, for Trump to state that these athletes should be fired due to their actions is hindering their right to a peaceful protest.

No citizen of America should fear the loss of a job due to their political beliefs. And, that includes conservatives who work for more liberal corporations such as ESPN. Those people should not lose their jobs because of political interest either.

But of course, the beautiful thing about America is, you don’t have to agree with these protests. You can choose to not watch NFL football. That is your right as a citizen of our great nation.

However, that will not solve the larger problem in our country. What it boils down to is this, a large portion of our population does not feel safe here. It has become unmistakable that much of our society feels they have been betrayed or that there is at least a problem, primarily in the way African Americans are treated by police.

Being a white male, I have the luxury of not instinctively fearing for my life when a police officer pulls me over. He simply gives me my speeding ticket and tells me to have a nice day.

However, and I can not stress this enough, just because it is not a problem for me doesn’t mean that it is not still a real problem for millions of Americans.

I also have the luxury of having not been affected by any of the recent hurricanes. But, hurricane damage is a very real problem for scores of people in our country right now.

Even some law-abiding, well respected American citizens of color have this instinctive fear when approached by law enforcement, simply because there is now a precedent set in our country, fancied or real, of people of color being treated unfairly by police.

So, where does America go from here? I see two options.

A) People can choose to ignore the problems that millions of people experience on a daily basis because they either can’t or don’t want to accept the views of the protesters.

People can not tune into the NFL games because they don’t want to see what’s going on.

Or, B) We, as a culture of Americans, can have calm and rational discussions based out of understanding and compassion about how we can approach each other with love and tolerance and make our country relatively comfortable for all of its citizens.

It’s so much easier to turn a blind eye to the problem if it doesn’t directly affect you. It’s so much easier to shout, “If you don’t like American then leave!” It’s so much easier to remain uninformed.

It’s much harder to take the time to get to know each other. It’s much harder to listen to each other, understand why people feel this way and work towards a solution.

And, this is America, right? America was built on hard work, right? So, as Americans, why don’t we put in the work to understand and listen to each other in order to ensure the best society for all of our citizens rather than just spewing hatred and yelling at each other to conform to certain ideas or leave?

Look, I know you don’t come to me for your political news. I don’t want to be in politics. I don’t have the time or energy to constantly stew the pot of hatred and bigotry that is today’s political climate.

But, when politics enter the world of sports, I do feel qualified to try and explain to the masses what’s going on. Ignorant is not a bad word. It has a bad connotation but all being ignorant means is to have a lack of knowledge.

When I was a child, I was ignorant to many things such as how to clean and feed myself. But, I learned these traits.

So, being ignorant to the issues which these NFL players are protesting is understandable. But, choosing to remain ignorant to the burdens of our fellow citizens is not.

It was once told to me that a wise man listens to all sides and then forms his own opinion based on the information he received from everybody. And, that only a fool chooses to completely ignore the beliefs of a large segment of the population.

As a country of Americans, let’s work towards listening to all sides and understand each other before we react out of fear and lack-of-knowledge. Let’s seek to understand each other rather than to be understood.

By Collins Peeples “Peeples” Court

By Collins Peeples