Anti-American anthem protests plagued the NFL going back two full years.
Since the first instance, protests cropped up all over the league.
But this latest protest is truly shocking.
Rise of the Protest
Several challenges presented themselves to the NFL over the years.
The league faced heat over a spate of high-profile domestic violence cases.
Disastrous replacement referees generated bad headlines for the NFL.
And the league continues to struggle with the head injury issue.
But the anti-American anthem protests presented the biggest problem to the league.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt for the Star-Spangled Banner.
He claimed the protest was about police violence against black people.
But statistics don’t back up his claims of widespread abuses.
Disrespecting the flag did serious damage to the league.
Stadium attendance shrank.
Television ratings took a tumble.
And advertising revenue dropped.
For the first time in recent memory, the NFL saw a two-year decline in popularity.
But the mainstream media treated Kaepernick like a hero.
And other lemmings followed his lead.
Activism Cleats
While anthem kneeling stopped for the most part, the damage has been done.
And players still protest in other ways.
The NFL has a “My Cause, My Cleats” program where players promote an activist cause.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver DeSean Jackson chose a startling topic for his cleats.
His footwear featured “Black Lives Matter” and a picture of Rodney King.
The events surrounding King sparked the L.A. riots of 1992.
DeSean Jackson will wear “Black Lives Matter” cleats depicting Rodney King beating this weekend pic.twitter.com/bZVfBbi72H
— Steve DelVecchio (@SteveDelSports) November 21, 2018
Coincidentally, Jackson wore the cleats against Kaepernick’s old team.
Kaepernick continues to be without a job, and his girlfriend insists it’s because the league is blackballing him.
Corrupt Congresswoman
The Rodney King incident of the early ‘90s was a mess for the city of Los Angeles.
Police officers pulled King over for a DUI.
King was on PCP and was belligerent toward the police.
It took several officers to subdue King with extreme force, and the incident was caught on camera.
But the media didn’t show the portion of the tape where King charged police.
A jury acquitted the officers involved, which led to the L.A. Riots.
The riots led to 63 deaths, over 2,000 injuries, and over 12,000 arrests.
They also cost the city $1 billion in property damage.
Anyone would find such actions abhorrent.
But not Maxine Waters.
The congresswoman representing south Los Angeles called the riots a “rebellion.”
One controversial verdict is not an excuse for the mayhem that ensued.
And a member of government should know better.
But Waters likes sowing discord.
She encouraged her constituents to harass Trump associates in public.
The group Judicial Watch sent an inquiry on Waters to the House Office of Congressional Ethics.
DeSean Jackson is from Los Angeles.
But he was only five years old when the riots occurred.
Unfortunately, figures like Maxine Waters taught him the wrong lesson about the chaotic event.