Covering Up Concussions Didn’t Bother Me, But Letting Black Men Express Their Opinions Crosses the Line

As a lifelong football fan, it pains me to say that the time has come to boycott the NFL. They have gone too far this time. I was fine when they covered up the concussion epidemic, but letting black men express their opinions is totally unacceptable.

I can no longer spend my Sundays watching football in good conscience, knowing that players are allowed to protest during the National Anthem. Suppressing studies about how football causes the disturbing neurodegenerative disease CTE is one thing; watching black players kneel on the turf for two minutes without having to face consequences for expressing their views is a whole new ballgame.

Why get upset that the owners didn’t provide treatment for former players suffering from the long-term effects of playing football? We should be grateful: Thanks to the league-wide conspiracy of whitewashing the relationship between football and brain damage, we were able to see more awesome, skull-crushing hits. Athletes shouldn’t use their brains anyway, they should stick to sports and leave protesting to the professional protestors.

I won’t watch another game until they punish players for quietly kneeling during “The Star Spangled Banner.” When I pay to see a game, I’m paying to watch black men destroy each other’s bodies, not exercise their constitutional freedoms. If only there were some way for black athletes to protest that didn’t shove the fact that they have the same rights as any other American in my face.

The NFL’s denial of the fact that players are in serious danger never bothered me, and I care so little about how they continue to avoid punishing domestic abusers and sexual assaulters that I didn’t even mention it until now. But if the League permits black people to voice their opinions, what’s next? Treating all black people equally? Paying college players for their labor in the fields?

And if you don’t agree with my opinion, too bad. Brave and courageous soldiers died for my right to free speech!