“NFL owners dared not go against players, who were outraged at Trump’s placing the SOB label upon them on behalf of the one percenters.”
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He’s fired!” These were words of our U.S. president reported throughout the social media. Colin Kaepernick and those that were joining or planning to join him were targeted.
He appealed to the millionaire and billionaire NFL owners to do something about these matters as fellow one percenters that control this country.
The NFL owners dared not go against players, who were outraged at Trump’s placing the SOB label upon them on behalf of the one percenters. Black players number 70 percent of the NFL.
NFL owners see dollar signs before symbolic patriotism. Lest we forget, owners made sweet deals with the U.S. Defense Department to intertwine the U.S. armed forces brand of patriotism throughout NFL games from singing the national anthem to unfurling Old Glory to interviewing soldiers a couple of years ago.
Plus their mouths remained shut like a bank vault when cops continued to gun down black males like shooting clay ducks at the rifle range. Colin's protests initially focused on police brutality.
A closer look reveals more than Donald Trump’s rants. It is capitalism’s way to lessen democratic space when persons or groups speak out or speak up or act out, for example, against the socio-economic conditions that masses of black people face. They say that when the economy catches a cold, black people catch pneumonia.
“Owners made sweet deals with the U.S. Defense Department to intertwine the U.S. armed forces brand of patriotism throughout NFL games.”
As we see today, economic conditions equate to pneumonia for white workers. Where does that leave us? It means higher joblessness, poor health, inadequate housing, police brutality, and an opioid epidemic. It means more Charlottvilles.
It means more prisons and more jail time. It means more poor and deprived neighborhoods. It means Black youth dying before they turn 30. It means less money for schools for anyone in the hood to acquire a good education.
The choices Republicans and Democrats offered: Hillary and Donald to lead us. Their primary rivals were just as bad. They sell us on democracy through voting for the donkey or the elephant. Both choices lead to defending imperialism.
So what do we do about attacks on our freedom of speech? One thing not to do is to keep right-wing speakers from speaking. This approach is a liberal one that works against us because it nullifies the very democratic space we fight to open up. Calling Trump names identifies the wrong target. The target is declining capitalism and the wretched inequities and racism that are increased as a result.
We must strive for something much greater. Organize. Win people over. For me that means scientific socialism. It provides a guide for my writing, speaking, and actions.
Dr. Morgan is an activist scholar and internationalist. He can be reached at kmorgan2408@comcast.net
Remembering France’s odious participation in the 2004 coup d’etat in Haiti.
Jemima Pierre’s presentation at a forum to commemorate the US-France-Canada-sponsored 2004 coup d’état in Haiti. The forum was hosted by the Center for Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto…
Ann Garrison spoke to Eritrean British attorney Feven Yemane regarding attacks on Eritrean diaspora festivals and gatherings and the investigations underway.
"United Nations Negroz" is the latest poem from our Poet-in-Residence, Raymond Nat Turner.
From the moment the first colonizers arrived in the Caribbean, the West has treated the region as a treasure chest for resource extraction and labor exploitation.
