NFL fans have expressed their dismay at how the NFL has become politicized because of the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
On Sunday, the teams were opening their season in empty stadiums, knelt, locked arms, raised fists in protest for the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ and the Black anthem ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’
But this gesture has provoked different strong feelings among the fans who were already unhappy when players knelt for the national anthem, which began when Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, first took a knee in 2016 to call the attention to the oppression of black people in the U.S.
In the recent poll by the Washington post, 56% of Americans believed that it was appropriate for the athletes to kneel during the anthem, whereas 42% of Americans said that it is absolutely inappropriate.
On Sunday, NFL fans expressed their upset at what they had witnessed in the stadium on twitter.
Green Bay Packers fan, Andy Duffrin of Marinette, Wisconsin, said he thinks the NFL is taking a misstep in making their product not about the football game, but a political agenda.
One Denver Broncos fan posted the video where he was setting fire to his Denver Broncos flag on social media saying ‘Loved watching my Broncos, but I love my country more. To HELL with the NFL and Players! GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.’
Another user Clay Travis of Nashville wrote ‘The Ravens stood for the black national anthem. And then most of the team kneeled for the national anthem. That, my friends, is a REALLY bad look,’
After the death of George Floyd, NFL along with other professional sports leagues are in favor to bring the attention to how black people are treated by law enforcement.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the NFL should have taken Kaepernick’s and other players’ protests more seriously from the start.
But on Sunday Kaepernick posted his tweet in which he was showing his skepticism and said that the NFL runs the propaganda of how they care about the black people, but on the other hand, they are actively blackmailing Eric Reid for fighting for the Black community.
Several teams made a point of stressing that their protest was not unpatriotic.point 194 | Colts said in the statement that they were not protesting the flag, anthem, or the people who wear a uniform, it was meant to highlight the power and oppression of racism, which is still inconsistent with the unity and freedom of what it means to be an American.point 409 |
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