The message couldn't be more clear. The National Football League was wrong.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted in video posted to Twitter on Friday that the league should’ve listened to players’ protests against racism and police brutality earlier, and expressed support on behalf of the NFL for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It has been a difficult time for our country, in particular, Black people in our country,” he said in a video posted to the NFL’s Twitter account. “First, my condolences to the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all the families who have endured police brutality. We, the National Football League, condemn racism and the systemic oppression of Black people. We, the National Football League, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest.”
“We, the National Football League, believe Black lives matter,” he went on. “I personally protest with you, and want to be part of the much-needed change in this country. Without Black players, there would be no National Football League. And the protests around the country are emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality and oppression of Black players, coaches, fans and staff. We are listening. I am listening, and I will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united NFL family.”
What does this mean to 49'ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee on the field while the national anthem was playing and paid for it with his job, possibly his career? Can he come back? Can he still play? Has he been away from the game too long?
One way of the other, this should enrage that deranged bastard in the White House. Death by apoplexy - that has a lovely ring to it.
Remorse, i doubt it.
ReplyDeleteMy bet is even the Klu Klux klan are waving BLM flags along with the Confederate flag to fit the recent narrative.
All things will pass BLM is just one of many.
I really wish it were not so but life has taught me otherwise.
At the end of the day Covid 19 is going to change the life we are accustomed to.
I doubt it will be the utopia we hope for.
As thing are! we will likely have even more consolidation of wealth /power and influence.
We are unlikely to ever have near full employment again; which will lead to more dis trust of the dissadvantaged or minority.
We need change, but where will it come from??
I see no signs.
TB
Ever the cynic, I wonder whether the racial make-up of US Army personnel has had anything to do with the bigwigs suddenly discovering religion, er, the constitution. Civil war in the ranks would be, shall we say, inconvenient. Same idea with the NFL's player roster. The NBA will be next, and perhaps MLB, but the NHL, well, who knows? Will the Air Force, the Navy and even the Marines chime in? We can all at least hope so.
ReplyDeleteThere are obviously some weirdos without identifying epaulets loyal to Drumpf who "cleared" the way to the church for his little homily to the nation, and America's police forces and unions seem highly put out that their swaggering attitudes, don't you give me any talkback tactics and racism are being questioned. The NYPD in the US and their Sergeants Benevolent Association stand out for being upset with the idea that anyone might tell them what to do.They claim the streets of New York as their turf to handle as they please, while de Blasio nods his head vigorously like a puppet. Our own lot of police don't seem much better, seething away with internal rage like that bald-headed thug in Kelowna, and a hundred other examples.
Some big brave boys here:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/violent-arrest-rcmp-kelowna-1.5595804
And baldie was subsequently let off because the level of injury sustained by the suspect wasn't enough to trigger an investigation by the police watchdog. So, that's all right then. Legal assault while two people hold the man steady for his justly=deserved public beating.
Hmm. Civilian forces like police and RCMP who refer to the general public as civilians have never warmed the cockles of my heart. They artificially make a divide between their glorious idea of themselves and the general dross of serfs they are sworn to serve and protect.
I base some of my observations on reactions of my good friend, a retired RCMP officer of the old school who has no illusions about the ne'er-do-wells and scumbags of all races roiling about in society, having seen it all -- I do not speak for him. But two men calling for backup unable to handle only one suspect? Ridiculous. He regards the dopes who bring disrepute on policing as not worthy of the badge or the Force, to include all ranks. And that surely is the point. He still regards me as a civilian, however.
BM
ReplyDeleteTB, I think you're right. How these supposed game-changing events will end probably won't be much more than a fizzle. There are some problems that are so widespread, so embedded in our lives that voluntary change can be doubtful at best. We'll promise to be more sensitive to race issues and we'll definitely tell our cops to mend their ways but we won't flood the streets forever and, when the protests wane, so will the campaign.
The pandemic will run its course. We seem to have lost much of our fear and want some restoration of our old ways. I was in a restaurant that implemented social distancing prior to the lockdown. They had removed half their tables. It wasn't as problem during the week but the owner didn't get the custom he needed on Friday and Saturday night to cover his costs.
We're so limited in our ability to respond to immediate challenges that we have no capacity for proactive measures to prepare for the next seismic event. There are more coming. We'll be overtaken by these events, again forced to rely on responses that are too late and too little.
There's been little to no attention paid over the past months to looming existential threats that have been steadily worsening. The hundreds of billions of dollars the lockdown has culled from federal revenues will be money that won't be available for other, arguably more critical problems.
When your best emissions-cutting vehicle is a pandemic that's a problem.
You're both civilians, BM. The RCMP is a civilian police force. The military have their own police.
ReplyDeleteThings go bad when the police don't consider themselves to be part of the society they're policing. Principle 7 of Sir Robert Peel's principles of policing:
Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
Militarized police is a bad US feature we would do well avoiding.
Cap
Cops need to be reminded that it's their job to serve "civilians." For most of my life I had great respect for the RCMP. That has eroded, especially since the killing of Robert Dziekanski killing at Vancouver Airport. Those Mounties even concocted a story to cover up what they had done. But for a bystander's cell phone video they would have gotten away with murder.
ReplyDeleteIt's a litany of these occurrences, including that Kelowna beating, and the militarized raids on the Wetsueten tribal lands, replete with snipers deployed in 'overwatch' and the surveillance of those participating in legitimate protests have darkened my perception of the national police force. American cops beat up blacks. Canada's cops go for First Nations. Then when they act like the Stasi, that's more than I can abide.
Actually, Cap, the RCMP has always considered itself a paramilitary force. Until we created CSIS and, to some degree, even since, the RCMP has viewed itself as Canada's MI5. CSIS supposedly is not allowed to spy on Canadians but the RCMP sure as hell does. And they do blur the lines between provincial policing and their federal roles such as Interpol, drug interdictions, terrorism, etc. There's supposedly a "Chinese Wall" between these two roles but that's fictional.
ReplyDeleteMound, we all like to believe that police are there to protect us and serve civilians. While that may be true in theory I think they really are there to protect the established powers that be. Police are often called upon and under much pressure to get results. Pressure can come from the public or from within the force. Regardless, goonsmanship is often more expedient than diplomacy. All the weaponizing of police that we see is a sign of bean counters doing cost/benefit surveys. Spend eight hours persuading a suspect to cooperate or simply Taser him and get on with the arrest? When we back off and look at process it looks like any other corporate efficiency program.
ReplyDeleteIt is not enough to isolate so called bad apples. We as a society need to have a big discussion about why we need police and what we want them to do. Then we need to do a complete reconfiguration.
One more thing. We need to stop watching American TV and movie cop shows. We need to learn that the Dirty Harry type of character is a thug and has no place in anyone's police force. Most of all, our police need to stop watching that stuff.
After todays, Saturday, demonstrations I can only conclude that the majority are more concerned about BLM.
ReplyDeleteCorona virus is fast becoming a second thought and global warming WTF is that?
Are we all so shallow?
Do we all have attention deficit disorder?
These people have the vote!!
Just how do they make their decisions?
TB
Toby, I don't know that we're significantly influenced by American cop shows but I suppose that's possible. That said, if the RCMP are going to function as a secret police agency, such as the militarized cops who showed up on Wetsueten land in full combat gear with assault rifles and snipers then the public needs to clearly see them in that light. For local policing we need an organization that's not tainted with that MI5 stuff. The Brits separate their secret police from the Metropolitan Police.
ReplyDeleteI have your point, TB. It's as though climate change has been scrubbed from our consciousness these last several months, the latest climate science ignored. We have learned, for example, that the Great Extinction has sped up beyond former expectations. That should be a call to arms but it was ignored. We've learned that atmospheric GHG levels have increased markedly even as the air in our cities has improved from the reduction in transportation of all types. On these critical fronts we've been falling further behind the curve.
ReplyDeleteRather than respond to these warning signs, government has instead thrown more billions at the fossil energy producers even as pandemic relief funding at unparalleled levels has ensured the government will be cash strapped, unable to fund any major climate emergency measures when the pandemic passes (assuming it will).
Police profiling and brutality is a social disease and it does need to be addressed, especially in our treatment of First Nations, but government must not lose sight that climate breakdown is a more universal threat and it comes with a narrowing window of opportunity that we're allowing to slip away.