It's not entirely clear why Jones decided to take such a hardline stance on the matter. After all, since the flap began in 2016 -- when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first sat out the anthem to draw attention to racial injustice and police brutality -- not one Dallas player has "sat or taken a knee" in support. Not one. In other words, it's not a problem that's affected the Cowboys at all. So why has Jones decided to spearhead this reactionary movement? And why has he put his own players in such a tough position where they either have to follow his diktats and seem like weaklings or "take a knee" and get scrubbed from the roster? Why?
Keep in mind, the reason Kaepernick's protest has not caught on is not because black NFL players don't think that police brutality is a problem. They know its a problem. Every black man, woman and child living in the US today, knows that police violence is a problem, just like they know that not everyone who lives under Old Glory enjoys the same benefits of security and freedom. They know that from their own experience, they don't need Kaepernick to remind them of it.
But black athletes are like everyone else. They like the fame, they like the praise and they like money. What they don't like is getting skewered in the media for defending unpopular causes. They don't like that at all. That's why-- except for a few brave souls who have selflessly put themselves on the chopping block -- the vast majority of black players have avoided the protest altogether. They'd rather just do their jobs, grab a paycheck, and get on with life like everyone else. How can you blame them?
But Jones has made that impossible. He's drawn a line in the sand and forced his players to do something that many of them really don't want to do, take a position.
Why? Why has Jones backed his players into a corner with no way to out? Does he want to inflame the situation even more? Does he want to exacerbate racial divisions? Does he want a bloody standoff that splits the country into enemy camps? What's he trying to achieve??
Everyone knows what happens when you give a proud, successful adult an ultimatum.
They resent it. No one likes to be told what they can and can't do, what they can and can't say, and what they can and can't believe. Nobody.
So why did Jones decide he had to be the big Bossman ordering his players around like they were his personal servants? That's not the way you treat people, not if you respect them that is.
Jones did it because of Trump. That's right, according to CBS News, Trump and Jones have been huddling on the issue and figured out how they wanted to handle it. Here's a clip from an article at CBS News:
"Jones also revealed that he's been speaking with Donald Trump about the protests...Trump...has made it clear that he believes players should be fired for kneeling during the anthem and that the NFL should create a rule to make it mandatory. A rule does not currently exist, but NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said on Tuesday that 'there will be a discussion about the entire issue.'" (cbssports.com)
Trump also directed Jones to the NFL Game Operations Manual which suggests how players should behave during the playing of the anthem and the penalties associated with violations to the rule.
Huh? So Trump actually had his lackeys dig through the NFL Manual to come up with something that would force the players to do as they were told?
Why? What possible benefit does Trump derive from turning a little NFL brushfire into a raging inferno consuming everything in its path? What does he get out of this?
Trump is just being Trump, a lumbering, opinionated troublemaker who gets his kicks out of knocking over furniture and breaking dishes. That's Trump in a nutshell. But there's something else going on here too. Trump seems determined to stomp out those "upstart" blacks who use their celebrity to draw attention to social justice issues. He can't allow that, after all, in Trump's world the primary duty of law enforcement is to create a secure environment for the 1 percent to make bigger profits. That means that the actions of the state's shock troops have to be defended tooth-n-nail no matter how repressive or violent they may be.
That's why Trump is reaching way beyond the president's traditional purview to crush the protest movement, punish the instigators and collectively brand anyone who sympathizes with their cause as an unpatriotic flag-hating traitor. That seems to be the broader objective here. Trump is redefining patriotism as the mindless acquiescence to ritual forms of state worship (the likes of which were on full display in Nuremberg in 1938) rather than honoring the foundational principle of free speech which gives the flag its true meaning.
Trump's open hostility towards Kaepernick and his supporters has breathed new life into the protest movement pitting one group against the other. This latest stunt by Jones merely adds more gas to a fire that Trump would like to see spread across the country triggering a resurgence of his ever-dwindling right-wing base. This is the type of chaotic situation in which Trump excels, so NFL players should proceed with caution. Players must be disciplined, restrained and "on message" if they hope to succeed. And, they can succeed, in fact, they can win big!
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