BILL KNIGHT
Essentially, the talented athlete has been banned from working due to his peaceful protest against racism in general and police brutality in particular.
“Taking a knee during the national anthem appears to have completely cost him his career,” wrote Intercept columnist Shaun King. “He has not so much as received a single tryout from even one team, in spite of being considered by experts to be around the 15th best quarterback in the NFL.
“The decision has next to nothing to do with football — and everything to do with Kaepernick’s protest,” King added. “It seems to be happening as a direct result of teams being terrified of what President Donald Trump and their ultra conservative fans might say if they signed Kaepernick.”
As commentator Kitanya Harrison has said, “What often gets lost in all the disingenuous shouting about the ‘rules governing appropriate displays of patriotism’ is that Kaepernick is embroiled in a labor dispute.
“He’s a member of a union that negotiated a more than 300-page collective bargaining agreement with the NFL,” she continued. “Kaepernick is being excluded from an arena where men who beat women, who abuse animals, who have killed other human beings, are welcome.”
Indeed, owner/employers’ shunning of Kaepernick has little to do with patriotism, “The Star Spangled Banner” or people in the armed forces, but much to do with trying to silence an African American celebrity and his supporters who have the nerve or bravery to object to police violence. (Imagine if an NFL player kneeled during the national anthem on Sept. 6 in recognition of the Catholic Church’s Feast of the Nativity of Mary two days later, or homeless veterans, or the victims of child cancer. There’d be applause.)
NFL owners, President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and some sports fans are practicing high-profile hypocrisy.
For example, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson in 2014 was suspended and fined after he was charged with child abuse for using a tree branch to beat his 4-year-old son on the back, legs, butt and genitals, and after the team brought him back the next year, Vikings fans cheered him.
More recently, after past racist and homophobic tweets by Josh Hader were revealed, the Milwaukee Brewers reliever was applauded by the crowd at Miller Park.
And think of other pro athletes who became controversial, such as Vietnam War-era conscientious objector Muhammad Ali and Major League Baseball’s confessed cheater Mark McGwire. After admitting using steroids in a career that set a home-run record, McGwire received a standing ovation from St. Louis Cardinals fans when he took the field as the Redbirds’ hitting coach in 2010, and since then he’s continued to work as a coach for the Dodgers and Padres.
In contrast, after Ali refused induction into the military following the rejection of his application for conscientious-objector status, boxing’s heavyweight champion was stripped of his title. Double standard anyone?
Maybe it seems silly to suggest that regular working people or unions that are battling for their existence in an onslaught of well-funded attacks from the Right and the Trump administration should weigh in on a millionaire formerly employed in a league run by billionaires. But it’s logical that everyone who works for a living should be concerned about Kaepernick’s treatment.
“If owners can do this to a unionized millionaire who can afford top-notch legal representation, what can they do to your broke behind?” Harrison said.
Further, the labor movement must show Americans it has value to press for equal protection under the law, whether they work on the gridiron or a fast-food joint. And throughout its history, labor has defended victims. In fact, too few folks remember that ballplayer Jackie Robinson, in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, was helped by some unions that since the 1930s had lobbied to end such segregation, that proclaimed that excluding workers from practicing their craft on the basis of race, gender, faith or anything except ability insulted basic rights, values and common sense.
Taking a stand or taking a knee as a nonviolent demonstration shouldn’t be justification for stealing someone’s livelihood any more than wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap. There’s no “just cause.”
The NFL Players Association this summer filed a grievance with the NFL challenging the league’s new national anthem policy requiring protesting players to remain in locker rooms, threatening to punish violators and teams. Approved by owners in May, the policy was imposed without consulting with the union, is inconsistent with its contract, and infringes on players’ rights, the NFLPA said. Days later, the league and the union announced the policy was suspended until further review.
As for public protests against perceived wrongdoing, employees at any workplace should have the right to “concerted activity” with like-minded co-workers without retaliation. And throughout U.S. history, bold, unpleasant or disruptive demonstrations have proven to be the most effective.
Otherwise, Americans would limit their First Amendment right to seek a redress of a grievance to sending an email.
Labor law tackles NFL owners
Posted by Community Word Staff on 2 September 2018, 5:20 pm
BY BILL KNIGHT
As Community Word published in the September issue distributed Aug. 29, former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s case is a labor issue, and an arbitrator appointed by the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed the next day.
The ruling by Stephen Burbank said that Kaepernick’s lawyers showed enough evidence that the league and its owners colluded to keep the free-agent quarterback off the field, and that the case can continue to a full hearing. The decision – permitting lawyers to question league officials, owners and others in the trial-like format – hit the NFL like an official’s penalty flag.
Kaepernick filed a grievance against the NFL in October 2017, accusing owners of conspiring to deny him a job because of his decision two years ago to kneel during the national anthem to protest racism and police brutality.
“You have people who came back after being associated with drugs, rape charges and so forth … but a man who violated no league rules, who committed no crime, who has statistics that Colin Kaepernick has cannot play in the league,” said Kaepernick adviser Harry Edwards. “That is not Kaepernick’s problem; that is the league’s problem.”
Indeed, Burbank ruled there was sufficient proof that the NFL “violates Article 17, Section 1 of the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA (union).”
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has said he admired Kaepernick for protesting during the national anthem, and that the 30-year-old QB who played six years with the 49ers and led them to the Super Bowl in his second season deserves a spot on an NFL roster.