'United We Stand' rally for Colin Kaepernick in NYC

[T-post Tom]

Surprised this didn't happen sooner.......


We're a couple weeks into training camp and Colin Kaepernick remains a free agent, and it's unclear if that will change in the coming weeks and months.
One explanation for Kaepernick's current situation: He hasn't been very good in recent seasons. Another take is that Kaepernick is being blackballed for his stance on social-justice issues. That's why there will be a rally at NFL headquarters in Manhattan on Aug. 23 to support the embattled quarterback, according to a tweet from filmmaker Spike Lee.

This comes three months after Kevin Livingston, the president of 100 Suits for 100 Men -- one of the organizations Kaepernick worked with earlier this year -- organized a "stand up" outside the NFL's New York City headquarters as a show of solidarity with the quarterback.
"He stood up for us," Livingston told ESPN's Michael Rothstein at the time. "It's only right that he took our issues in our communities and brought it to a national level and sacrificed salary and being ostracized by the NFL. It was only right that we stand up for him. I started this, literally, when he came to my office -- I was moved. I work with parolees. People usually want to ostracize this particular population. Me working with him on the front lines and him coming to my office, this is not the first time I've worked with him. So I thought it was only right that I stand up for him."

"We're not protesting," Livingston continued. "This is not anti-NFL. This is not going against the police. What we're doing exactly is we're showing solidarity to the league on behalf of Colin Kaepernick. This is nothing planned by him. This is all me.
"But I have to say, Colin Kaepernick really moved me when he did that for our community. And so ... the reason why I chose [NFL headquarters] is the league needs to see that Colin is being supported. And that we're buying consumers and that our dollars matter and I don't think it's fair the way he's being treated by the league. I just want to make that very clear."


Kaepernick, who played for the 49ers from 2011-2016, began last season on the bench behind Blaine Gabbert, but was reinserted into the starting lineup in mid-October. When it was over, he had started 11 games and completed 59.2 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed 69 times for 468 yards and two scores. But according to Football Outsiders' metrics, Kaepernick ranked 30th among all quarterbacks, just ahead of Case Keenum, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brock Osweiler and Jared Goff.

The Seahawks showed interest in Kaepernick in May, and the Ravens appeared to close to signing him earlier this month. Nothing materialized and Kaepernick is still looking for his next opportunity.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/s...ernick-in-nyc/

Does Kaepernick want starter money? http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/s...-rumors-060217

[WhiteWhale]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Hate

And then I said to myself, "self, if you're having trouble getting to sleep, you can always come to CP and read the dazzling commentary provided by Baby Lee and White Whale. Why, to read these two minds of the day debating each other, is to enjoy an intravenous overdose of dullards delight"!
Careful though, you may actually die from exposure.

2/10

I always wait with baited breath to see what the YEC thinks.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by Fish

I'd bet 95% of Americans don't ****ing care. Not everyone lives their lives viewing everything in the entire world through a binary Republican/Democrat filter like you do.

Oh really??? Where the **** have you been these last few years, a cave in Afghanistan???

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Its not complicated man, one is making a point while participating, the other is a refusal to participate. Its that simple.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I don't see how Marcus Peters' intent is any different.

No offense WW, but you HAVE to be reading into my assessment something more than I intended.

If nothing else, Kaep SAID he was not participating, and Peters didn't.

I'm not trying to make a subversive case that one is a total piece of shit and the other is a hero or anything.

As Marcellus said, it's simple.

The anthem comes on,
Kaep says [with body language, verified by words later] 'leave me out of this'
Peters says [solely body language in his case] 'I'll stand for your anthem, but I ain't forgetting my oppressed brothers either.'

If you have a quibble with that assessment, please offer more insight than 'I disagree, they're the same.'

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Further proof that we're making rules up as we go along.

If Tebow kneeled before the anthem in prayer, who would have been upset?

If kaepernick raised a fist and Marcus Peters later took a knee, I'd bet we'd view fist raising as totally disrespectful and kneeling as only somewhat disrespectful. We're making these rules up as we go along and then acting like those rules have always been there.

It's pretty laughable that players hold team meetings to vet in advance what unwritten rule gestures are appropriate.

Anyone can play 'if things were different, I'd bet they'd be different' game.

Get back to me when another player takes a knee and says it's because he's not down with participating in respecting the anthem or the flag.

There can be as many motivations and messages as there are people demonstrating, and each has their own frame of analysis.

It's not about a kneel, or a fist, or a prayer. It's about what they say their intent was, IF ASKED.

Does the notion of Tebow kneeling and praying during the anthem irk you particularly because it's disrespectful, or violates a strict code of comportment, . . . or is it because it's Tebow?

I've said repeatedly, I don't disrespect the aims Kaep is seeking to bring attention to. It's the ham-handed way he handled it. If anything, it's how counterproductive it is to pertinent issues that's most maddening, because I think they deserve to be addressed articulately. See I don't think that Kaep would have been maligned NO MATTER WHAT because of inherent hatred for the causes he's championing. He's maligned because he's mush-mouthed, counterproductive and inarticulate in the execution.

[Hoopsdoc]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ment/#comments

The Georgia NAACP calls for a boycott until Kap is signed.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ment/#comments

The Georgia NAACP calls for a boycott until Kap is signed.

What a great idea!

Yep, this plan is gonna' work like charm!

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ment/#comments

The Georgia NAACP calls for a boycott until Kap is signed.

“We want you to know this protest is not anti-flag, because people of color love the Stars and Stripes,” says Dr. Leslie N. Pollard, president of Oakwood University. “This protest is not anti-American, because people of color have loved this country, even when this country has not loved us back. And this protest is not anti-veteran, because we support those who have made sacrifices so that our liberties have been secured. This protest is to ensure the rights of all Americans regardless of color and creed to be heard.”

This succinctly highlights my criticism. This isn't a protest of the flag, the anthem or the veterans. It just happens to refuse to participate precisely when the veterans presenting the flag for the anthem is the only thing happening in the stadium.

Again, it's not the cause, but the tactics. And for those who would say 'oh, you'd bitch no matter what Kaep did,' can you imagine if he'd stood at attention, hand over his heart, with 'fulfill your promise' written on his glove, or a t-shirt he exposed?

How powerful would it be to say 'I believe in you, now earn that faith.' If that was indeed your intended message.

It's not that hard to be pro-flag, pro-anthem, and pro-veteran and still critical of national shortcomings. But you shouldn't try to start by disrespecting the flag, anthem and veterans, then protest later that 'that wasn't what I meant.'