By Gary Norris Gray, Staff Reporter
OAKLAND — Have you ever been so sad that it physically hurts inside? This was the feeling of most Americans the weekend of August 10-13, 2017.
Football players like Colin Kaepernick, Oakland’s Marshawn Lynch, and Seattle’s Michael Bennett understand the battles of the common man and are making it public while the current person residing in the White House has no clue.
The United States of America is going through another dramatic racial conflict with the violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia and with the National Football League’s growing Black player’s protest which has brought this issue of race back into this great nation’s attention as if it ever disappeared. Number 45 has also let America know that racism is still strong in the United States and that he is the de facto leader. We now know where Agent Orange stands after his news conference in Washington on Tuesday, August 15th.
The NFL players protest movement is growing. Raider running back Marshawn Lynch and Seahawk defensive linemen Michael Bennett sat down during the National Anthem before their games this past weekend.
Colin Kaepernick started the dialog a year ago on the football field, stating that he would be kneeling for justice and freedom for all. Bennett and Lynch have joined in with Kap and the NFL does not know what to do with the start of the regular season just two weeks away.
African American fans have joined too, stated that they will set out this season and not watch a single game until they reinstate Number Seven, Colin Kaepernick. The fans will set out until the NFL truly starts a dialog about racial unity and justice in the United States.
Our 45th president has also brought his own racial agenda to the election cycle and it has turned the country upside down.
What some don’t understand or are willing to admit is that Number 45 has given permission for some Caucasians to act this way, turning a blind eye to bad racial attitudes and even adding fuel to the burning fire with their words.
Thus he has created Charlottesville, Virginia with more incidents on the way if we, Americans, don’t address race head on, and start speaking the truth.
Kaepernick, Bennett, and Lynch have given this nation another chance, another opportunity to get it right with non-violent protests on the football field. Number Seven has made it clear what the issues are Mr. Bennett just reinforced that with his statements Thursday night August 10th. Bennett like Kaepernick wants to use this sports platform to continue to speak out against the injustices in the United States. Mr. Bennett stated that everybody has a time where they feel like they need to be who they are and stand up for what they believe in.
A 20 and 30-year-old doing something a 71-year-old either cannot or is unwilling to do, move outside of his personal comfort zone.
This President has the opportunity to set a different national racial tone and different national racial direction. Your first step, sir, is to fire the Alt-Right members in your cabinet; they are not helping the country. This action would start the racial unification of this fractured state. Your second step sir is to apologize to the young African American men in the Central Park rape case; this would be a good faith gesture to the Black community. Your third step, sir, would be to disavow yourself from Doctor David Duke, the Ku Klux Klan, The White Knights, and other White supremacy groups. You, sir, are the President of the United States that means you, sir, are the leader of the free world. You, sir, lead ALL Americans, THAT MEANS EVERYBODY !!!!
America needs to mend that broken heart. Barack Obama was headed in the right direction; President Barack Obama did it again with the 2nd highest tweet in the nation this past week.
“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love…”
Number 45 has taken a different and opposite path and it has cost the people of Virginia. It has cost the city of Seattle, Washington. This path could cost Berkeley and San Francisco, California the last weekend of August.
Mr. Kaepernick, Bennett, and Lynch will give it one more college try. These three young African Americans are creating a movement outside of themselves getting the average football fan and average American involved and thinking about world issues. These men have raised the conciseness of this great nation, something that Number 45 cannot or will not do.
AMERICA DO NOT REPEAT THE HARDSHIPS AND GRIEF OF THE 1960s
Gary Norris Gray – Writer, Author, Historian, Gibbs Magazine-Oakland, California and New England Informer- Boston, Mass. THE GRAYLINE:- The Analects of A Black Disabled Man, The Gray Leopard Cove, Soul Tree Radio In The Raw, and The Batchelor Pad Network, Disabled Community Activist. Email at garyngray@blackathlete.com
Garynorrisgray@Wordpress.com
©Copyrighted Gary Norris Gray @ Gray Leopard Prod.
BASN Newsroom 