Last sunday, a combined seventeen Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars took the knee during the National Anthem. This would be as to demonstrate a silent protest against the American government and not only their past racist injustices against black people but a supposed current “Institutional Racism” manifesting to keep people who are not white down.

This would come to the outrage of many, quickly pointing out the football player’s salaries, questioning how it fits into their narrative of black people not being able to be successful under the “Racist Regime.”

And this is a fair point considering the combined salary of the protesting players is nearly- 450 Million, larger than a few countries GDPs!

And this is where the disconnect lies. When watching football, we don’t want to be talked down to. We don’t want to see sports politicized. We don’t want to be repeatedly told how the United States is still as racist as it was during the 1950s by people literally making millions just running a ball down a field.

A survey produced by ESPN’s Darren Rovell a couple of months ago asked over 9,000 people who attended at least one football, basketball, or hockey game whether they had watched less this year than previous years. Among pollers who said they watched less, over a fourth cited the National Anthem Protestors, which would be started by former San Francisco Quaterback, Colin Kaepernick as the main cause!

In response to the protests, Trump would show his disappointment with protesters disrespecting our country and flag and call for them to be fired.

He would further say that they should look to the National Anthem as a unifying symbol in the country rather than portray it as a symbol of racism and evil.

In a follow-up, he would point out the NFL’s dwindling attendance due to those disagreeing with protesters. This brings us to the larger point. Yes – the NFL players have the right to protest the anthem and it isn’t being argued they should not be able to.

What is being argued is the idea of combating racism by protesting a unifying symbol in the United States is not only divisive but morally reprehensible.

If the NFL doesn’t make changes soon, they will see further decline in their viewership.

-OCT