I guess what bothers me about the protest is that it is a protest against "police brutality", and in reality, police brutality is way way down the list of problems in America. Police are now more sensitized and psychologized and scrutinized than at any time in history. And while there is occasional needless brutality, the number of such incidents as a percentage of all police contacts with the public in general, or even blacks in particular, is low. And much of the protesting is against a straw man, stuffed by "activists." What did the police even do wrong in Ferguson, or Baltimore, or Charlotte? Nothing proved in any courts, but the neighborhoods burned anyway. These athletes would be just as useful kneeling to protest "mob rule and looting" in various cities in the last year, but they aren't. The team has been all unified this year, I'm hearing, but now Rose-Ivey and company want to inject something non-football into the scene every week, to protest a non-issue. Why don't they do something in their free time to help with the issue if they think it is important?
I'm probably going to regret opining here, but the police in Ferguson were found to be guilty of numerous rights violations by the Justice Department. Just because the Michael Brown shooting was justified, that doesn't mean that the community didn't have numerous valid complaints about how they were being treated. In Baltimore, the prosecutor publicly called the police out for sabotaging the investigation into the Freddy Gray incident. The Charlotte shooting may well turn out to be justified (or it might not) but it is absolutely the case that the officer who shot the man did not have his body camera running, which is a clear violation of department policy. There are numerous cases that one could point to. Some involve white people, some involve black people, some involve hispanic people, they involve veterans, innocent old ladies, harmless puppies, autistic nine year olds, you name it. Omaha is a city that has a good police force with a series of chiefs who have sought to maintain high standards of accountability, yet within the last decade there have been two instances of sexual assault by local law enforcement that we know of (one was a cop, I don't quite remember what agency the other rapist was affiliated with.)
I also think that you are greatly underestimating the degree to which police use excessive force or completely unjustified force (remember the tennis player in New York, I think his last name is Blake, who was tackled while minding his own business because he looked like a suspect in a non violent crime?) I think much of the anger isn't even rooted in the instances of police brutality, I think it stems from the absolute lack of accountability and the attitude that the victim "had it coming" or "should have complied." In some cases people who were doing absolutely nothing illegal or even suspicious are being shot or beaten up and there are no consequences. Most cops are good people who are trying their hardest to do a tough job, but that doesn't change the fact that accountability is rare, that too many cops who would never abuse their authority enable those who do.
This whole incident brings to mind the story from last year about the pizza place in Indiana the owner of which said she wouldn't feel comfortable catering a same sex wedding. As you may recall, the SJWs went full psycho on her family and forced them to close their business. I remember thinking how terrible that was. If they wanted to change their minds maybe they should have gone to the pizza place, ordered a pizza and asked to talk to the family to hear them out and to try to graciously persuade them to have a change of heart. Maybe it wouldn't work, but at least both sides would benefit from listening to one another.
Three of our players engaged in a peaceful protest. They didn't protest looters and rioters because looters and rioters don't purport to serve the public to which the players belong. They didn't protest gang members because gang members aren't expected to be virtuous and aren't public employees. The wise thing for people upset about this protest would have been to try to find out why the players felt it was necessary to protest. Instead of an exchange of ideas many people dug in their heels, and some threatened their lives. When Kaepernick started his protest, I wasn't offended, but I did think it would probably be counterproductive. Instead it has exposed a lot of raw nerves and forced a discussion of these issues that wouldn't have happened otherwise. I don't endorse everything the protestors stand for, indeed I think some of it will only make things worse, but they've accomplished something productive and for that I think we should all be grateful.
