nfl protests
-
Iowa Cheerleader Who Quit Team After Being Ordered to Stand During Anthem Finds Racial Slur Written on Dorm Door
You might remember Alyssa Parker. She’s the Buena Vista University cheerleader who took a stand for racial injustice and quit her cheerleading squad after the school issued a policy mandating that players and cheerleaders stand during the national anthem. It seems that everyone was impressed by Parker’s upstanding character and her willingness to stand by…
-
Forget About Colin Kaepernick; I Think I’m Done With the NFL Just Because I Don’t Want to Watch Someone Die
In eighth grade, I was a starting wideout and cornerback for my middle school football team, the St. Bartholomew Bruins. Our team that year went undefeated and won the Pittsburgh Diocese, and our only close game that season came during the championship, which we won on a last-second touchdown caught by yours truly—a catch that…
-
Turns Out the Nearly $90,000,000 Donation to Prove the NFL Cares About Social Justice Is Bullshit
On Thursday, The Root staff writer Michael Harriot and I argued as to whether the agreement reached between NFL owners to donate some $90 million to various social justice causes as an answer to players’ protests was good business or just hush money to silence a movement. I posited that protest had sprouted a monetary…
-
The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Pocahontas, Potato Salad and Porch Monkeys
I have a confession. The Root’s staff is going to kill me for revealing this top secret information, but in the spirit of openness and honesty, I feel it needs to be said, so here goes: Not everyone hates us. I know it’s hard to believe. I can’t believe it myself. The truth is, although…
-
NFL Players Just Sold Kaepernick’s Protests for $100 Million. Are They Sellouts or Heroes?
A group of players in the National Football League accepted an offer from NFL owners for $100 million for social justice causes in exchange for … umm … we want to use a term that expresses the exact sentiment while still conveying a modicum of journalistic integrity. We think the most precise way to describe…
-
Papa John’s Apologizes After Blaming Lagging Sales of Trash Pizza on NFL Anthem Protests
Papa John’s is singing a different tune after blaming its pizza-sales decline on the NFL anthem protests. The pizza company’s CEO, John Schnatter, thought it appropriate earlier this month to tell shareholders that “the NFL has hurt us,” expressing disappointment that “the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this.” By “resolve this,” Schnatter was,…
-
Seahawks’ Michael Bennett Stood for National Anthem Ahead of Veterans Day
Michael Bennett is proving, once and for all, that the NFL protests during the national anthem have nothing to do with veterans. The Seattle Seahawks defensive end stood for the national anthem Thursday for the first time this season, Bleacher Report notes. According to the sports site, Bennett told NBC that he stood to show…
-
NFL Owners Will Be Deposed, Asked to Turn Over Cellphone Records and Emails in Colin Kaepernick Collusion Case
Well, well, well. Things just got deliciously messy over at the NFL. It seems that if there was ever anything lurking in the dark underbelly of the organization (and I know we all believe that there is; it’s just a matter of details at this point), it will soon be exposed. According to news reports,…
-
Miss. High School Basketball Player Says He Was Suspended for Not Placing Hand Over Heart During National Anthem
A Mississippi high school basketball player says he was suspended from school for not placing his hand over his heart while the national anthem played at a school event last week. Chase Neal, a 16-year-old junior at Caledonia High School, told The Dispatch that he and some teammates were taking part in a slam-dunk contest…
-
Papa John’s Sheds White Tears Over Lagging Pizza Sales, Blames NFL Protests
To hear Papa John’s founder John Schnatter tell it, better suppression of First Amendment rights make for better pizza sales. Schnatter told shareholders on a conference call that NFL players’ protests over racial injustice are killing his pizza business during the games, according to the New York Daily News. He also blamed NFL Commissioner Roger…