Now that Trump has dis-invited the Super Bowl winning Eagles from the White House, perhaps Obama should host a BBQ for the champions. I heard this first on Facebook. Of course, it’s too bad Trump had to play politics with the NFL and ruin a perfectly respectful tradition followed by the sitting presidents of the past. His outrageous comments about firing professional football players for taking a knee during the national anthem at football games were designed more to appeal to Trump supporters than to address the real issue at hand. African-American men are subjected to inequalities most white men and especially the one-percent of America’s most wealthy individuals cannot comprehend.
The players, mostly the league’s African-Americans, were trying to stage a respectful and passive protest of the killing by guns of unarmed black men being stopped by police. The act of civil disobedience, if it even rises to that level, by the players was not anything anti-American or even unpatriotic toward the flag or our countries national anthem. It was to call out the injustice toward a group of most black men who are subjected to mass incarceration rates and many other inequalities that most of the people watching the NFL games in the comfort of their own homes or their high-priced seats at the stadium cannot comprehend.
This all came to light after the disinvite on Tuesday by Trump and a quickly posted tweet by a former Eagles player, Chris Carter. I hope Obama does have the boys over. Still, knowing Obama, he probably would not want to seem like he is responding to something he may or may not agree with by his predecessor. The former president can be a bit spineless on some matters. Still, let’s hope that he does respond and forget about the politics for a change. It is too bad that sports has to be dragged into politics like it so often is. The Olympics is often subject to the powers that be.