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Fenway sports fans respond to NFL protests

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The National Anthem Debate on Vimeo.

 

Football, and the culture surrounding the contact sport, is as American as the national anthem. This season, players and fans alike are questioning their support for the America that football represents. This skepticism is expressed through silent protest of the national anthem.

Many have pointed to the dichotomous treatment of black men in America; professional athletes–a reported 70 percent of NFL players are black men–are canonized, while young black men are criminalized. The National Football League, which once represented American unity, has come to polarize the population in recent months.

Players in the league are kneeling during the national anthem in protest of a celebration of America that expressly excludes some while ignoring many. Conversely, Americans–including President Trump–are protesting the NFL with social media campaigns to #BoycottNFL. The President took to twitter to condemn the silent protest of a growing number of NFL affiliates. He has fallen near silent in the wake of recent violent protests in charlottesville and berkeley. Yesterday, he took to twitter to threaten the protected tax status of the NFL.

The trend, inspired by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, spread throughout the league in the 2017 season. In response to police misconduct Kaepernick knelt for the national anthem in his 2016 preseason games. He was not picked up for the 2017 season.

This season, players and then cheerleaders and then coaches and then teams imitated Kaepernick’s silent protest–some in support of his message and some in protest of his absence from the league.

The news media is criticized for inaccurate or insufficient coverage of police brutality; the issue, which is about authority and autonomy, is coming into focus on unconventional channels–music, television, and now sports–and americans are listening. The NFL is gaining interest, some scornful and some celebratory, from Americans who previously tuned the phenomenon out. Public response, which has been plentiful, is split between outrage and support on both sides. Many of those reactions are expressed on twitter but the consequences are significant in the real world.

Conflict in football is typically reserved for on the field skirmishes and fan rivalry off the field. The issue is creating a rift in America where a solid foundation has existed for the last century. The central conflict in question is what is american. Those who kneel in protest of the anthem say that america is failing them and others, those who look down on the protests, say the NFL is failing america.