If this had been Kaepernick’s original idea it might be a different ball game.  Kaepernick was asked by his Muslim girl friend to do the protest, as we all know.  Which he did and you all know the rest of the story – where is she – in hiding?  How has she been mistreated in this country?  She has a good job at a radio station (a job that an American would love to have.

No pity from this corner for either one.  Kaepernick was given an opportunity that just doesn’t happen every day of the week – being adopted by a white family and look at him now making millions.  If either of them are not happy – than they can always adopt another country like China or Russia – can’t go to Japan because they do not allow Muslims to enter the country.

Maybe Kaepernick really is mad at Obama for tearing up the country – if so, that is who he really should be ragging about.  I think he was ragging about the people being killed in the streets – if so, that is Obama’s fault.  He is the one who has called for no law and order.

It just shows that the NFL has no ethics in its rules of the road.  If he had been working for a corporation – he would have been asked to quit or be fired.  He has certainly made the NFL look bad by putting up with his BS.  If he wants to protest tell him to do it on his own time. Doesn’t he need to get a permit to protest in a given area?.

Best Answer: You have every right to protest and all cities will grant you a permit on public property, the permits are needed to make sure the protest are held in manner that is safe, lawful and respectful of other people’s rights.

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USA TODAY SPORTS

by Josh Peter

Kaepernick protest needs white male athletes.

Long before Colin Kaepernick took a knee, Tom Brady took a pledge.  In part, the pledge reads, “I will speak up whenever I know discrimination is happening and I will stand up for victims.”

But Brady, who took the pledge last year while participating in a Public Service Announcement targeting racism, has offered no public comment on Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem.

Through his silence, the New England Patriots quarterback has underscored a facet of Kaepernick’s ongoing protest that is gaining attention: the limited support of white athletes.

Three women — soccer player Megan Rapinoe and basketball players Jeanette Pohlen and Maggie Lewis — are the only white professional athletes who have knelt during the national anthem as an act of solidarity with Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

“The struggle for equality continues and athletes across the lines of race have a shared burden to challenge that system,” Rev. Jesse Jackson told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not the burden of blacks and Latinos alone to bear.”

Michael Bennett, a defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks, was even more direct.

“You need a white guy to join the fight,” Bennett, who is African American, told The Seattle Times on Thursday. “The white guy is super important to the fight.

“For people to really see social injustices, there must be someone from the other side of the race who recognizes the problem, because a lot of times if just one race says there’s a problem, nobody is realistic about it.”

The prospect of a white player and black player kneeling side-by-side during the national anthem makes sense to Richard Lapchick, a human rights activists whose work has focused on race in sport.

“There’s no question that part of the success of the civil rights movement itself was the fact that blacks and whites joined together in trying to bring about change,” Lapchick said. “And getting the names of white players, be they of the Tom Brady caliber or second-string players, just any white players, would be extremely helpful in this particular case.”

There is historical precedent for such gestures and their power.

Jackson, after recently meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, said the story of Jackie Robinson demonstrates the important role white athletes can play. In 1947, the year Robinson broke the color line and joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, the racial taunting began to subside thanks in part to a white teammate.

In response to the racial taunts, Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese walked across the field and stood by Robinson at first base during one game. A statue of Reese wrapping his arm around Robinson was unveiled in 2005 to commemorate the moment.

“It was a huge moment,” Jackson said, “because in some sense, when the white player embraced him, it said to the fans, ‘We must reshuffle the deck.’ ”

Dr. Harry Edwards, a respected social activist who has consulted with Kaepernick, said it’s important to note that white members of the Seattle Seahawks participated when the team’s players locked arms during the national anthem Sept. 11. He also said that while driving around the Bay Area, where he lives, he has been heartened to see young white kids wearing 49ers jerseys with Kaepernick’s No. 7 on them.

“We need to be honest about what that terrain really looks like,” he said, but then added that the support of Brady or prominent white quarterbacks such as Eli Manning of the New York Giants or Ben Roethlisberger would “significantly move the needle.”

Those athletes, Edwards suggested, “could stand up and simply say, ‘We, too, oppose injustice irrespective of the target, irrespective of the victim, because that is not what America is about and that is what our national anthem really promises.’ ”

The power of Brady’s support wasn’t lost on Jocelyn Benson, head of a venture led by professional sports leagues to improve race relations. Brady was one of seven players who participated in a PSA during which the Patriots quarterback says, “Speak up.”

So why is Brady not speaking up on behalf of Kaepernick and against racism now?

“There’s many reasons why he may or may not choose another particular way of speaking out,” Benson said. “(White athletes) may disagree with the method or the particular timing of the message but are still communicating other way their support.”

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers drew widespread praise when he criticized a fan’s anti-Muslim comment. But when asked about Kaepernick’s protest, he told The Sporting News, “To me, the flag represents the greatest ideals of the United States of America, not the worst.”

“But different people look at different things and have different feelings about it. That’s what freedom of expression is all about.”

Chris Long, a defensive end for the Patriots, this week became the most vocal and prominent white NFL player to offer support for Kaepernick. Although Long said he respects the anthem and would not kneel while the anthem is played, he said he respects Kaepernick.

“I play in a league that’s 70% black and my peers, guys I come to work with, guys I respect who are very socially aware and are intellectual guys,” Long said Tuesday on ESPN Radio’s Russillo & Kanell. “If they identify something that they think is worth putting their reputations on the line, creating controversy, I’m going to listen to those guys.”

Of Kaepernick’s protest, Long also said, “Listen, it’s been complicated. It’s brought out a lot of what we as fans and players think about the anthem, a lot of strong feelings on both sides.

“But I think we can all agree we love our vets. We love the vast majority of officers of law enforcement. But they are human beings too, and there are isolated incidents that need to be better, and I think all guys are saying is ‘Listen, most people might be great cops, great people that protect our communities, but when there are injustices, let’s find justice for those situations.’ ”

Long also addressed something that may have discouraged other players, white or black, from addressing the issue publicly.

“I’ve had a lot of thoughts about it, and it’s hard, because you want to talk to the media, you want to say something about it,” Long said. “As you know with the media, it’s a long conversation and if you talk about it for a few minutes, they might take 10-15 seconds out of your quote and take you out of context, and run with the narrative.

“But I’ll make it pretty clear: I support my peers in exercising their right to protest. This is a wonderful country, and I think everyone agrees on that, but there are things in our country that can improve. I don’t think that by acknowledging as a white male that America isn’t the same for me, maybe, as it is for everybody, the same great place, that we’re complicit in the problem or that we’re saying America isn’t a great place.”

Later in the week, Kaepernick said Long’s stance was “huge.”

“I don’t know if he realizes how much that means to this movement and trying to get things changed,” Kaepernick told reporters. “ … Ultimately he made a decision that he wanted to talk about it. Because he’s played with players whose families go through and experience this. And players who have dealt with it themselves.”

For some, that kind of solidarity conjures up memories of Peter Norman, the white Australian sprinter who in 1968 stood on the medal stand with Americans John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Norman, in an act of solidarity, wore a human rights badge when the two black Americans raised their gloved fists in a Black Power salute.

But Jackson said participation of white athletes shouldn’t be coerced.

“It’s a moral appeal,’’ he said. “People must follow their conscience.”

(The part that makes me feel uneasy is that it is a Muslim who is goading him on.  Is he trying to prove something to her to be able to join  her Islam religion?)

kommonsentsjane