NewsClick

NewsClick
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Covid-19
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • International
  • Sports
  • Articles
  • Videos
search
menu

SUBSCRIBE AND SUPPORT

image/svg+xml
  • All Articles
  • Newsclick Articles
  • All Videos
  • Newsclick Videos
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • Sports
  • International
  • Africa
  • Latin America
  • Palestine
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
  • US
  • West Asia
About us
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
Newsletter
Facebook - Newsclick Twitter - Newsclick Instagram - Newsclick Youtube - Newsclick RSS - Newsclick
close menu
×
You deserve independent, critical media. Subscribe and Support
Politics
International

American Public Disapproves NFL’s Crackdown on Kneel Down Protests by Footballers During US Anthem

The National Football League (NFL) has said the players would attract punishment if they kneel down to protest during when the US national anthem, a move that was applauded by President Donald Trump.
Newsclick Report
08 Jun 2018
National Football League

Image Coutesy: The Christian Science Monitor

A storm, which is brewing on the football fields across America, looks set to gather enough strength to shake Donald Trump’s political base in the coming months.

Since 2016, football players across the US have been kneeling down in protest when the American national anthem is played at the stadiums. The bosses at the National Football League (NFL) have decided to crack down on the protests which is a throwback to the Black Power Salute by black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carol during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

The NFL team owners, trying to be on the right side of the government as well as the revenue-generating networks, put a policy in place late last month, which states that the players could not kneel during the anthem, and if they do so, they would attract punishment, or their teams would face penalties.

READ MORE | US Footballers Protest During National Anthem, But it Remains a Song to Slavery

The policy, in turn, has triggered ethical questions about curbing the players’ freedom of expression. The NFL bigwigs, trying to find a middle path, have clarified that the athletes will have to stand if they are on the playing field or at the sideline during the anthem, and they could opt to stay in the locker room during the ceremony.

Further controversy and fresh protests from the players were stoked after Trump praised the NFL's decision. Earlier this week, the US president cancelled 2018 NFL champions Philadelphia Eagles' visit to the White House – a traditional ceremony – and in place of that, hosted a ceremony supporting the national anthem.

Americans with protesters

With Trump coming out all guns blazing against the kneel down protests through his tried-and-tested tirades on Twitter among other moves – branding the protesters as unpatriotic – the whole episode has left Americans polarised.

There is a bright side, though.

Most Americans believe that the NFL players, who kneel during the national anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed black men, are not unpatriotic, as per a Quinnipiac University poll published on June 7.   

The poll found that 58 per cent of voters don't think players who protest are being unpatriotic, compared to 35 percent who do. The divide falls along political and racial lines, says CBS News in its report.

The first protest

It all began in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, former quarterback with National Football League (NFL) team San Francisco 49ers, knelt in protest when the National Anthem was being played before a match. Kaepernick, who opted out of his contract with the 49ers in 2017 and who is yet to be signed on by any other NFL team, was protesting against racial injustice and police brutality following the gunning down by the police of two unarmed black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, in July 2016.

READ MORE | Did You Know that the US National Anthem Justifies Slavery?

Since then, many football players have protested by kneeling during the national anthem.

Meanwhile, Kaepernick, a free agent and out of job now, filed a grievance against the NFL last October, claiming that the teams are colluding and denying him a chance to play.

There would be a lot of substance to that claim as Trump has been very vocal in demanding that the NFL sack players who “disrespect” the flag.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired!’” he said during a rally seeking support for Alabama Senate candidate Luther Strange last September.

As the protests rage, the sentiments in America have also seen a steady shift with many now believing that the professional athletes have every right to protest or stand up (in this case kneel down) for a cause.

Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
National Football League
US National Anthem
Donald Trump
United States
NFL Team
Related Stories
Abortion

Abortion is Dead, Long Live the Foetus

Russian Defense Ministry in Frunzenskaya Embankment, Moscow

Russia Steals the Thunder in ‘Wheat War’

WTO Ministerial Conference

Death Trumps Life at Geneva Ministerial

US Abortion Law

US Supreme Court Ends Abortion Rights; States can put Bans

CHICAGO

Labour Notes 2022: US Workers Pushing Unions Into Mainstream

(Photo- Anton Vergun/TASS)

Western Media’s Shock and Bias Ukraine-Russia Coverage

Yars ICBM launchers participated in drills of Russian Strategic Rocket Forces, Ivanovo region, northeast of Moscow, June 1, 2022

Biden Tweaks Ukraine Narrative

US

7 Sangh-Linked US Groups Spent $159m on Sangh Parivar in 2001-19: Report

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) with visiting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, New Delhi, April 22, 2022

US Narrative Won’t Survive Defeat in Donbass

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) received Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council , Riyadh, April 7, 2022

Iran-Backed Houthi is Winner in Yemen

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share
You deserve independent, critical media. We want readers like you. Support independent, critical media. Subscribe to Newsclick.

Subscribe and Support


Latest

  • West Bengal

    Unemployment Crisis: Graduate Women Participate in Training to be Maids in West Bengal

  • Sanna Irsahd Mattoo

    Pattern of Arbitrary Restrictions of Kashmiri Journalists and Scholars: NWMI

  • apple

    J&K: Apple Traders Face Losses due to Transporting Issues Along the Highway

  • Pulitzer Winning Journalist Sanna Irshad Barred From Travelling

    Pulitzer Winning Journalist Sanna Irshad Barred From Travelling

  • Load More
Newsletter
About us
Grievance Redressal Mechanism