Ali's disrespect for America was far greater back then than Kaepernick's actions are now. Ali was in his prime and was a more dominant athlete so he did have more to lose which is why I am not putting Kaepernick on his level just providing a similarity. Smith and Carlos in the 68 Olympics is another great example. They were heavily criticized for "disrespecting the anthem" at the time but are now looked at as heroes in the civil rights movement.
Kaepernick's race and upbringing are irrelevant. He could be 100% white raised by Chinese parents and it shouldn't matter. He believes there is a fundamental problem in America and wants to see change. It does not matter if this problem directly affects him. It does, however, affect him because regardless of who raised him or that he is biracial he will still be racially profiled as a "black male".
It also does not matter that he is rich and made his money in America. He is speaking out for many many others in the country whose voices go unheard. THIS IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS: so many people are not able to understand what others go through that they assume someone can only have an opinion that directly affects themselves. This lack of understanding others is what creates such divides in America and misunderstanding leads to fear and anger.
If you follow his twitter history it's clear he has been vocal about these issues for a while now and has just now decided to use his platform to voice his opinion in a louder way. His actions will also have a negative impact on him staying in the NFL as this league hates "distractions". So no, he is not just doing this for attention and that is an incredibly insulting thing to say and further shows a lack or respect for black people.
49ers can cut him if they are unhappy with his play or think he lacks focus. Actually makes what he's doing all the more courageous as he has a lot to lose but is doing what he feels is more important. to suggest that a game is more important than respect for human life is ridiculous.
Tim Tebow had no message. He was religious. That is also insulting to imply there is a similarity between these two guys.
I think the MOST IMPORTANT thing to understand about this message is that it is not implying each individual police officer is a terrible person but more so that the system itself is fundamentally flawed. Some people become emotional thinking Kaepernick is directly attacking their cousin, brother, etc in the police force. There are many excellent police officers, there are also some terrible ones but the system from top down is broken and many officers know this but can't do anything about it from their position and ranking.
One of the problems of this system is that it is far too easy to become a police officer. Ideally, every cop would be an exceptional human being with integrity, no ego, and a desire to make their community a better safer place. Unfortunately, many turn to the profession for the wrong reasons. Some were picked on in school and want a source of power. Some crave control and think its cool to have a gun. Many reasons which lead to an abuse of power with only minor repercussions. There needs to be a better system for hiring and also for training so that good brave people can learn to become good cops. Again, I'm only highlighting the negative because this is the problem that needs fixing. The positive should be the norm so does not need to be pointed out.
The pig socks were a poor decision
America has a crime problem, we have turned into a very violent society. He should speak out more about the black on black crime than the perceived injustices that white cops commit on blacks. But this is the new America where there has been rhetoric the past 20+ years that the white male is the problem with the world.
16 Team H2H Dynasty
G A Pt PIM SoG PPP H+B FOW DZS
W Svs GAA Sv%
C Scheifele Tavares Dvorack Eller
LW Domi Aho Ritchie Vrana
RW Tarasenko J Williams Laine Sheary
D Klefbom M Rielly Spurgeon Provorov Ellis Dahlin
R White Kase Schmaltz Thomas Anston-Reese Lindell Theodore
G McEhlinney C Anderson
R Kuemper
M Bjork Raddysh Kravtsov Ylonen Soderstorm Gilles Gustavsson Point Khakonen Delia Hill
10 Team, 60 Player Roster
G, A, PTS, PPP, PIM, BLKs, Hits, +/-, Shots, W, GAA, SV%, Saves
C- JHughes, Trocheck, RThomas, Zegras, Norris, Bennett, PLD, Stephenson, Danualt
RW- Raymond, Stone, TWilson, Toffoli, KJohnson, Nyqvist, Zary
LW- Keller, Schmaltz, Bunting, Skinner, Barbashev, Duclair
D- QHughes, McAvoy, Doughty, Heiskanen, LHughes, Mintyukov
G- Shesterkin, Demko, Andersen, Kahkonen, Levi, Tarasov, Annunen
Notable Prospects- Nikishin, Kulich, Leonard, Wood, Perreault, Lekkermaki, Ostlund, Othmman, REvans, L-Heureux, Ivanov, Murashov
FYI, the Niners are keeping Kaepernick. He's on their 53 man roster as of today.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
America does have a crime problem. And a gun problem. And a police problem. And many many others. Kaepernick has said his actions are to protest many problems within America, and then chose one to go in to a little more detail in.
Gun laws are ridiculous in America. How about we start with that as one reason to protest. Much of the crime and police brutality is a direct result of this.
If there is a crime problem, then it is the job of the police to fix that. They have been unsuccessful. Another failure of the system as a whole and another reason to call for change.
Gangsters killing gangsters should never be compared to law enforcement killing innocent unarmed citizens. Criminals act as individuals outside the system and when caught are imprisoned. Protesting a country's politics based on individuals acting outside of these laws is an absurd argument.
To ignore or blindly refuse racism is a racist act in and of itself. To compare innocent lives lost at the hands of police to criminals killed by criminals is racist. These are two separate (yet somewhat linked) issues with the common theme being black people dying. You do not solve one issue by ignoring it and choosing to address a different one instead.
In order for humanity to improve, we as white people need accept that there are problems that maybe we don't experience on a daily basis and put ourselves in the shoes of others instead of getting defensive when someone points out that the world is not as nice as it seems to us.
So a black man can't feel safe in a black neighbourhood because of street crime and can't feel safe in a white neighbourhood because cops will pull him over for just being present there. Where are these human beings supposed to be safe?
Who do you think is more reasonable, gangsters or police? I would say police, so it seems to make more sense to try to effect change in that department than pleading with drug dealers and mafia to stop committing crimes.
The answer to problem A is not to ignore it and instead choose to address problem B thus distracting everyone from problem A in the first place.
16 Team Dynasty Weekly H2H Fantrax (starters in bold)
G A P +/- PIM SOG PPP H+B FOW --- W SV SV% GAA SO
(C) Krejci, Spezza, Koivo, Statsny Faksa
(LW) Zetterberg, Duclair, Ehlers, M Domi Belesky, M Martin
(RW) Pastrnak, Oshie, Larkin, Toffoli S Reinhart, Brouwer
(D) J Honka, Seabrook, Goligoski, D DeKeyser, Vatanen, Parayko L Schenn, S Johns
(G) Ward, Lack
Prospects- W Nylander, C Dvorak, I Barbashev, C White, T Rattie, M Dal Colle, A Mantha, R Barber, L Crouse, M Barzal, C Keller, L Brown, C Fischer, B Point, J Forsbacka-Karlsson
Just FYI....gangsters don't Only kill other gangsters....they also kill innocent toddlers and elementary school kids.....
The socks are just so absurd.....if he had wore socks that showed Muslims depicted as terrorist he would have suspended indefinitely.....
I think I need to start a movement for Blaine.....he just landed the #1 QB job and only makes $100k per start while his black counterpart who doesn't play makes $700k to ride the bench....
16 Team Dynasty Weekly H2H Fantrax (starters in bold)
G A P +/- PIM SOG PPP H+B FOW --- W SV SV% GAA SO
(C) Krejci, Spezza, Koivo, Statsny Faksa
(LW) Zetterberg, Duclair, Ehlers, M Domi Belesky, M Martin
(RW) Pastrnak, Oshie, Larkin, Toffoli S Reinhart, Brouwer
(D) J Honka, Seabrook, Goligoski, D DeKeyser, Vatanen, Parayko L Schenn, S Johns
(G) Ward, Lack
Prospects- W Nylander, C Dvorak, I Barbashev, C White, T Rattie, M Dal Colle, A Mantha, R Barber, L Crouse, M Barzal, C Keller, L Brown, C Fischer, B Point, J Forsbacka-Karlsson
Wow. I suppose bar tenders are to blame for an uptick of drinking and driving! But ok... Continue on with your tangent.
To say that police are responsible for fixing the crime problem suggests just that. How bout communities show a little accountability for these issues rather than just pointing fingers at the police in general. Cops have a right to feel insulted... But guess what... They've felt that way for much longer than this entitled donkey has been alive.
No innocent person should be gunned down... BUT... IF YOURE GOING TO HOLD UP A 7-11, accost an officer and then cry police brutality because you were believed to be a threat and gunned down... Well then... Maybe it's time to really look at the cause and effect of these issues.
I always love a good debate +1 for Havana to starting this. There are bad apples in every profession and there always will be, the human race will never be perfect. Should the officer that blatantly shot the black man in south carolina be brought up on murder charges absolutely, should those officers be fired in chicago the one that fired his whole clip yes the others I don't know enough about. Did the guy hustling cigarettes in NYC deserve to have the life choked out of him for resisting arrest deserve it? No.
But I do know this, you don't run from the police when they say stop. You don't walk or charge at them with a knife. When they want to put you in handcuffs you let them.
If you want to play the whole you don't know what it's not like to be pulled over because of color you're wrong. I had to go to Junior College to earn my full ride in college. I'm white and all my roommates were inner city black kids, we were pulled over because I was driving my truck with two black guys at 1 AM in a white neighborhood (the nice section of Schaumburg IL) because that's when our team bus got home from Western Iowa. Long story short we were all taken out of the vehicle, I consented to have my vehicle searched. To this day I know why we looked suspicious.
16 Team H2H Dynasty
G A Pt PIM SoG PPP H+B FOW DZS
W Svs GAA Sv%
C Scheifele Tavares Dvorack Eller
LW Domi Aho Ritchie Vrana
RW Tarasenko J Williams Laine Sheary
D Klefbom M Rielly Spurgeon Provorov Ellis Dahlin
R White Kase Schmaltz Thomas Anston-Reese Lindell Theodore
G McEhlinney C Anderson
R Kuemper
M Bjork Raddysh Kravtsov Ylonen Soderstorm Gilles Gustavsson Point Khakonen Delia Hill
I meant to ask this earlier >> Is Kaepernick using any of his millions to help create change??
This is such a touchy subject with many different opinions.. No matter what, we will never all agree on this matter but I do love reading everyones responses..
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