Donald Trump has been in office for over 35 weeks. Unfortunately, a good proportion of his presidency has been embroiled in some sort of controversy. Whether, it be Russian collusion in the 2016 election, sexist remarks over certain individuals and even Donald Trump’s dissatisfaction with aides. Nevertheless, one thing which remained common, and potentially escalated these controversies, are his tweets. Furthermore, his most recent tweets regarding NFL players, degraded players for kneeling during the national anthem and caused a national uproar throughout the USA. “How did this start?”, “Does it contradict the Constitution?”, and most importantly “ Why did Trump comment on it now?”. Today I will be answering these questions and giving my viewpoint regarding this widespread controversy. …show more content…
In a few days, many athletes - especially African American - were showing support by either imitating Colin’s silent, but effective form of treatment or raising their fist - bearing resemblance to a “Black Power Salute”. While other famous athletes and public figures showed their disappreciation by publicly condemning Colin’s actions. Some even questioned whether his actions were in accordance with the US Constitution. While most argue that Colin’s actions were within the parameters and accordance with the constitution, they do state that the National Football League, can, in fact, fire the players for supposedly disrespectful behaviour. Looking at it from a non-political viewpoint, though the players don’t contradict the constitution, NFL ratings have been substantially down and if they continue to be so, the authorities may have to punish these supposedly “disrespectful” behaviours, to bring certain viewers who were offended, back to the
…"more probable than not" that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady knew of rule-breaking… (Smith) Which was going to result in a one million dollar fine to the New England Patriates and a four week suspension for quarterback Tom Brady. In the four game suspension Brady is to go without pay, (which is pocket change for him.) Yee released a statement Monday saying, "The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis. In my opinion, this outcome was pre-determined; there was no fairness in the Wells investigation whatsoever. There is no evidence that Tom directed footballs be set at pressures below the allowable limits." (Yee) A statement from Brady’s agent who is very upset over the matter.
The NFL in particular is known for its focus on order, power and control, where operations are anonymous and interchangeable. With that players and employees are none else than compliant with league regulations. In this case Colin Kaepernick’s protest had the ability to go against the grain and break the façade of being afraid to voice his opinions. Today’s generation has become very open to sharing their opinions on social issues and Kapernick’s protest is just an addition. This protest instantly became political because of the fact that police brutality and racial is becoming a persistently uncomfortable issue that our country is facing. Every single there is something new about citizens being killed by the police for no reason, including recent cases such as Philando Castle and Terence Crutcher. Such issues will not be resolved until our society stands against it as a whole. It takes public figures such as Colin Kaepernick to stand with citizens to bring awareness about these issues in order to force change in the government and society. Whether industry leaders like it or not, I believe that such protest will continue to grow. Athletes and entertainers will continue to voice their opinions about social issues until changes come into effect.
coaches should also get in trouble for their role in the deflation. The coaches let this happen and they know that the NFL is totally against it.
In the face of inequality and race, one man has expressed his rights more than others and that man was Colin Kaepernick. Kaleem (2016) says while Kaepernick set the national debate about race on a course with many of the other worlds problems, his stance on the national anthem has sparked controversial conflict among people of color and people of a different race. Next, almost no one seems to be aware that even if the U.S were a perfect country today, it would be bizarre to expect African-American players to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Why? Because it literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans. Furthermore, people keep asking the question about what freedom is and how it can be defined, and with Kaepernick, he kneeled for something that is being looked at as patriotic but some may argue that it’s a disgrace. Kaleem
After calling all athletes who kneeled during the National Anthem cruel names, not only did more kneelers appear, but the standing teammates linked arms showing unity. Their reason may not’ve been only to protest on racial injustice, but to rebel against Donald Trump and show that this is their right. Various people, including President Trump, think that every athlete who has kneeled should be fired because they should not be able to protest in such a disrespectful way. It’s not only fans who find this protest wrong, but even some players do, including Drew Brees. Brees says he agrees with the context of the protest, but not the actions of it stating, "[I]t's an oxymoron that you're sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak
Examining Trump’s rhetoric and past actions, it becomes clear that Trump’s ability to be the leader of America, especially in today’s already heated world climate, becomes questionable. When even the members of his own party refuse to endorse him and claim that he is not qualified to run a country, the general public needs to sit back and question his integrity. In Trump’s past, he has proven to be an insensitive, racist, greedy business man. Why would he prove to be any different once elected to office?
The most common form of consequence for players is fines, which they also receive for a number of small, in-game infractions, such as a fine upwards of six thousand dollars for throwing the football into the stands. The second is suspension, which can occur for something as small as a dirty hit on another player. Because NFL players are often paid per-game, they usually lose a few thousand dollars per week of suspension. But to someone who according to Forbes, makes on average, 1.9 million dollars per year, a fine or suspension is not a large enough consequence for players. In the ninety-seven years since the NFL has been organized, it has taken American society by storm, and the influence that it’s teams and players’ actions have are undeniable. While I support the presumption of innocence, it seems that there are more convictions than consequences. It is particularly disturbing that the men who society idolizes are men who I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving my child alone with due to the poor moral conduct they are constantly reported as having. The NFL should not only monitor its players, but they should revise their current method of due process, and should hold players to a higher level of integrity and excellence, to better their teams, the future, and America as a
Throughout many years in the NFL there have been a large amount of suspensions among the players. The degree of accusations are largely diverse, but the punishments behind those seem to be the same. It is Ludacris how one player can be accused of cheating and another accused of head hunting and they come out of it in the end and the punishments are very close to being the same. The NFL needs to learn how to punish accordingly and be more severe. There are too many instances where someone gets caught doing something illegal, and they keep doing it because the punishment isn’t as severe as it needs to be.
In this current day and age, professional athletes should represent their position that they take on conflicts by utilizing their social prominence. The concept that influential people, companies, or socialites can sway crowds to fight for a cause has become more efficient due to modern times. More than ever, the world is connected through variations of media and technology which allow words from anyone to travel virtually anywhere. When taken advantage of efficiently, people such as Colin Kaepernick can use their platform to shed light on issues that are ignored
In the article “Colin Kaepernick’s drowned out by the noise.” (thegaurdian, 2017), Ameer Hasan Loggins breaks down the reasons and beliefs of ‘Kaepernick kneeing issue’. Primary, the incident in 2016 where American football quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during a pre-game national anthem to convey his message, “[I’m] not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.”. Correspondingly, Kaepernick was referring to police brutality killings of Alton Sterling, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, Terrence Crutcher and Eric Garner to are a few. Conversely, the police involved with these cases, especially the ones that fired the life-ending shots were acquitted or never
I agree with Colin’s decision to sit down to protest the unfair treatment of minorities. For a long time now minorities have been treated like they don't belong in this country and even though we think it’s getting better, the fact that people who protest against discrimination like Colin Kaepernick are being disrespected and even are compared to murders really makes you question if the country is actually moving forward.
Towards the end of 2016, many Americans witnessed professional athletes of the National Football League taking a knee during the National Anthem on live television. The person who started this protest is Collin . He started the protest to fight against police cruelty against African- Americans. The movement inspires other athletes to get involved hoping to make a change in the community. While some people consider that the athletes are practicing their rights of speech, other people argues that the protests may not be appropriate referring to their job. In fact, the NFL players do have the right to practice their right of speech.
During the presidential elections of 2016, Donald Trump proposed that a way to promise “safety from terrorists” and “decreasing rates of unemployment” would be attained by building a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States. Throughout the entire election Trump continued to revisit his idea of “the wall” as a way to decrease crime and unemployment and not only that, but Mexico would be the one paying for this wall. That must have been a favorable opinion because in November, much to the surprise of millions, he was elected the 45th President of the United States of America. Now that his promises have been made, the fiction behind them is what is actually becoming the reality, rather than the wall itself. Although Trump and his supporters have many
Less than one month ago, such a statement would have been dismissed with incredulous laughter. Never before has a result been so shattering to American certitude; never again will we discount an underdog. This is no longer a joke, and this certainly is no dream; Trump will serve as commander and chief of the most powerful military in the world, determine the fate of our country’s reputation when he meets with foreign leaders, and elect government officials who will preside with him over America for the next four years.
Muhammad Ali is an example of an athlete who voiced his political ideologies in sports to advocate for the Civil Rights Movement and protest the War. As an Olympic gold medalist, heavy weight titlist, and many other victories, he used the fame to project his humanitarian efforts. Ali refused to serve in Vietnam due to his religion and as a result, he was stripped of his 1967 title . He retired in 1981 with an incredible 59 wins and five losses, but he will always known as symbol of courage, will power and strength, not for his career milestones, but for breaking racia...