Black Caucus chairman urges NFL to support athlete protests

The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus urged the National Football League on Monday to support athletes who are kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality.

In a 1,842-word letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other NFL leaders, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) invoked Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and his book of sermons “Strength to Love” to explain why athletes should have the right to kneel.

King wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to defend nonviolent protests against racism from white Americans who acknowledged social injustice but disagreed with the civil rights movement’s tactics.

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“This letter is written in the same spirit,” Richmond wrote.

“For African Americans, it is not about standing, sitting, or kneeling for the National Anthem ― it is about unarmed African Americans lying in a grave who were shot and killed by police officers. It is also about a justice system that says that encountering a Black person is enough reason for a police officer to fear for his or her life.”

Richmond pointed to a passage from King’s 1963 letter that he said still rings true today: “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.”

“It is unfortunate that protestors have to give up their time and money to protest police brutality. (Some, like Heather Heyer, risk their lives.),” Richmond wrote, referring to the woman who died amid the violence stemming from a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August. 

“But it is even more unfortunate that federal, state, and local officials, as well as our justice system, have left these protestors with ‘no alternative,’ and that they feel that there is no other way but to take their cause to the streets,” he added.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick drew attention last year for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality toward African-Americans.

It was reported Sunday night that Kaepernick had filed a grievance against NFL owners accusing them of colluding to keep him out of the league because of his protests.

During a campaign rally in Alabama last month for Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) — who went on to lose the GOP primary runoff to Roy Moore — President Trump blasted athletes for kneeling during the national anthem.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s fired,’ ” Trump said.

Richmond described Trump’s remarks as part of a “petty, racist speech to an overwhelmingly white crowd in Alabama.”

Since Trump’s speech, dozens of NFL players have kneeled in solidarity with Kaepernick.

Vice President Pence made a point of leaving an NFL game in Indianapolis last weekend when members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeled during the national anthem.

Richmond concluded by stating that the CBC “fully supports” NFL players’ rights to “peacefully protest in the tradition of other patriots who loved our country enough to call out its wrongs and push it to live up to its highest ideals.”

“Because the CBC is fighting for the same thing as they are, we will stand, sit, and kneel with them and other patriots who share our goals. We hope that you will stand, sit, and kneel with us,” Richmond wrote.