NFL – Susan X Jane

Kap’s Got A ‘Dream’ Contract!

Nike set the internet on fire this week, announcing Colin Kaepernick will be the face of their 30th-anniversary Just Do It campaign by releasing this beautiful ad:

Within moments of Nike’s announcement, the you-better-stand-for-our-flag-you-disrespectful-shit-do-you-like-my-flag-shorts crowd got all fired up–literally. The air around the nation was scented with the smell of burning Nike’s as Kaepernick detractors took to social media in protest of Kaepernick’s ascension into Nike’s hall of sports gods. This is not what Nike means by “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything”. Ya dirty old socks are not a sacrifice—its a mercy killing. Anyways, later for the haters—

But flag waving fans aren’t the only one likely to have a match in their hand. The NFL just signed an 8-year equipment deal with Nike worth millions, while Nike’s renewal of Kaepernick’s deal was simmering on the back burner. The NFL can’t be happy to be tucked into bed with Kaepernick and Nike. The US military pays more than 10 million dollars to the NFL for so-called paid patriotism, including the national anthem display in games. The NFL really needs that anthem segment to go right and these protests are messing up their money. It’s not just bad blood between Kap and the NFL: a judge recently greenlighted Kapernicks lawsuit charging the league with collusion to go ahead. Guess collusion isn’t always fake news.

Trump_suggests_that_Nike_s_stock_is_‘getting_absolutely_killed_with_anger_and_boycotts__-_MarketWatch

Stock prices fluttered in the initial hours after the announcement, but by the end of the second day prices had recovered and stocks for Nike were near a one year high. Unlike other recent boycotts including the boycott of the NFL that resulted in huge losses for the league or the Starbucks boycott that brought the coffee giant to heel in a matter of days, burning already purchased Nike apparel isn’t going to affect Nike’s bottom line. [Sidenote: boycotts work best if you DON’T GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE COMPANY FIRST, DUMMY!] Also, if you Nike protesters had supported the end of police brutality instead of the end of Kap’s contract, maybe you could’ve had your football AND a decent pair of sneakers.

This isn’t the first round of boycotts at Nike. Nike’s labor practices overseas have long made the corporation a target of activists, and rightfully so. A nice ad campaign doesn’t erase oppressive labor practices, though it does sell a lot of iPhones and sneakers. And yet, the mainstreaming of Kaepernick that Nike achieves with this campaign is not insignificant. Our culture is awash in celebrities and politicians who proudly parade their lack of morals while their fans like, snap and retweet. Kaepernick has leveraged his celebrity to address issues of injustice and is deeply involved with his charity of choice Know Your Rights. He is an inspiration without the corporate endorsement. Now Nike’s campaign is likely to reach millions of people, presenting Kapernicks activism as an aspirational call to action punctuated with the most successful ad slogan in athletics: Just Do It. For better and worse, advertising shapes behavior. Is an endorsement deal a celebration or a commodification, or maybe both? The complexity and hypocrisy of corporate wokeness are not limited to Kaepernick and is worth some deep thinking.

The company made a bold choice, but a safe choice as well. As a global corporation, Nike already serves a majority-minority market. People in Asia, the global south and Africa buy sneakers–and outnumber Nike-burning NFL fans by a large margin.

In addition to our own swoon-worthy images of Kaepernick, Nike has also recently released ads celebrating women athletes in Mexico and launched a line of sports hijabs. Nike has seen the future and it is diverse.

We can’t deny that corporate social consciousness is hella problematic, nor can we deny that it does move the needle on issues that are ignored in the mainstream narrative. As companies move to cater to the growing share of their audience that is people of color, women, and other traditionally marginalized groups, we are likely to see more ads that package up culture and diversity. We don’t want our deepest convictions sold back to us by people interested in the bottom line. But Nike’s new content resonates with a world on fire and deep desire to act. We need to think more about the lack of separation between what we buy and who we are. We need to act to bridge the separation between who we are and who we can be. Hmmm, now wouldn’t Kaepernick be a good spokesperson for that.

Reality in America is definitely crazy enough, but there’s still room to dream a more just world. Our complex media environment provides opportunities to shift existing narratives, particularly around race and gender. We have to be careful to have our eyes wide open when we watch–both to see what’s new and to be careful not to let the same injustices get repackaged without us noticing. This country could use a little crazy dreaming these days; just be sure not to go back to sleep.

Jemele Hill’s Fearless Twitter Fingers

Sportswriter Jemele Hill was suspended for two weeks from ESPN this afternoon for the cardinal offense of tweeting. Let the irony of that sink in: suspended for tweeting. Did she tweet that she was going to start a nuclear war with North Korea? Did she tweet antagonistic messages at the mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico? Even worse:

Jemel Hill encouraged people to boycott Dallas Cowboys’ advertisers in response to the team’s owners promise to censure players who choose to kneel for the anthem. It’s not like she was marching around Charlottesville with torches again just a month after a young woman was killed by a terrorist. She didn’t stockpile weapons and bomb-making materials. Nonetheless, her tweet represented a ‘dangerous’ breach of the ESPN social media policy. A statement from ESPN concluded “all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.” She didn’t threaten human life, but NFL money.

This suspension is just the latest case of employment sanctions against a black person for defending their right to peacefully protest during the NFL’s opening ceremony. No matter how much fans boo, how many beers they throw on protesting players and fans, how many tweets they fire at the ‘snowflakes’standing up to the week after week, the right to peaceful protest remains enshrined in the constitution. Trump inserted himself into the fray and shifted the narrative to be a fight over patriotism–classic authoritarian move.

The NFL is a television rating juggernaut. Three games on Sunday, Monday night, Thursday night, 32 teams, nevermind replays, and streaming. There are few stages in the US bigger than the NFL. America’s greatest show is now overshadowed on that stage from the sidelines by a handful of athletes protesting police brutality. This alone is enough to make white supremacy burn all its jerseys. For Jemele Hill to argue that it is also people’s right to not watch the big show is nothing less than a knife to the neck of America’s golden goose.

We’re over a year into the NFL protests. With a volley of a million tweets, an army of think pieces and a raging battle on everybody’s news feed the mainstream narrative of the protests is even muddier than ever. Black people, however, are clear as day. Colin Kaepernick is clear, swatting down reports that he was willing to cave on protesting if he secured a contract.

Jemele Hill was clear when she reminded fans that they are valued customers of the NFL who’s boycotting hold power. She was clear that systemic racism is a problem not just in the streets, but also in the boardrooms of America. She knew that NFL owner Jerry Jones was more likely to capitulate to a boycott that hit his pockets for punishing protesting players than the protests of his own players.

Police_shootings_2017_database_-_Washington_Post

You should be clear: the extrajudicial killing of black people in this country continues unabated. Even worse, the last few year have shored up the courts and public opinion against fixing our unjust justice system. Racism is arguably the worst it has been since slavery. Yet, despite the best efforts of the right, Nazis with torches and the racist tweets of the actual President of the United States, the quest for racial justice and equity for black people in America continues. Don’t let ESPN contribute to silencing black voices with this unfair suspension-sign. Don’t let the lies about Kaepernick go unanswered-share. And of course, as always, stay woke.

Trump’s Okey-Doke-Rope-A-Dope

Oops, he did it again. Trump’s got the country so riled up about the NFL’s knees and elbows that there’s barely enough time in the day to focus on the humanitarian crisis exploding in Puerto Rico, looming threats of nuclear War with North Korea, 181 arrests during healthcare hearings, and a bunch of White House staffers using personal accounts for their damn emails. Remember when you were just sick of hearing about the emails? Good times.

Today’s media environment runs through your life like a freight train: demanding your attention for constantly breaking news, requiring your studious use of social media so you can keep up on the latest viral videos. Keeping up with it all is exhausting. Ignoring the media barking for your attention means you might miss any one of these majorly important stories altogether. Damned if you do try to keep up, ignorantly awaiting the imminent apocalypse if you don’t pay attention. Trump expertly leverages our inability to look away to control the news cycle and the national narrative.

Trump treats his captive audience like hostages, terrorizing us at regular intervals to keep our attention, threatening one of us–Black athletes–or another–Dreamers–to signal his dominance and to keep the fearful quiet. He exhausts us with his diatribes. He robs us of sleep with his late-night tweeting. He holds the gun of patriotism to our heads when we ask for justice. He won’t let us take a bathroom break.

Whatever you may think of Donald Trump, you cannot deny that he is well aware of how to manipulate media to get attention. He rode a wave of crazy talk all the way into the White House. Now camped out in the Oval Office, he continues to command the news cycle any day he chooses with the stroke of 140 characters. He is a car accident that we can’t look away from, even though our rubber-necking is slowing down the flow of critical and timely stories that require both attention and action.

Trump is using racism to whip up his base and wipe out his critics. The thing that makes this trap exceptionally difficult to avoid is that the stories he stokes the news cycle with are important–NFL protests about racial justice(not the free speech issue that is not at the center of the protests, no matter what he tells you), DACA, Charlottesville. These are critical and complex issues that deserve all our attention. Here’s the trick, Trump has no intention of offering solutions or real dialogue on any of these issues. While he has people of good conscience dancing around the ring trying to explain racial justice to the unwilling he skulks out of the spotlight. Nothing gets accomplished but making more anger, and then he hits us with another tweet. War with North Korea, bam. Repeal healthcare, pow. Before you know it you’re leaning against the ropes and the ref is counting you out.

So be prepared for the next round of stories fighting for headlines. Avoid Trump’s okey-doke-rope-a-dope. Remember that climate change, international diplomacy, and democratic integrity are the prize to keep your eyes on. Even when you’re watching the top story, ask yourself ‘is there something important I’m not hearing about’? Be careful to avoid fights that are designed to distract you, not engage you. Keep your chin tucked. Protect your neck. And always, stay woke.

How to Stop The NFL Protests

Are you sick of protests interrupting your God-given right to watch men sustain traumatic brain injuries while you consume alcohol? Are you tired of listening to super-rich athletes using their power to ask for dumb shit like justice or equal rights for people of color? Then I have some tips for you to put an end to these national anthem protests once and for all.

11273257 — BFA/BILLY FARRELL/BFANYC/SIPA USA

Demand a separation between politics and football–As an American, you have the right to remain completely ignorant of even the most basic functioning of the government of the country you love so much. If you wanted to know anything about politics you’d be watching Meet the Press instead of NFL Sunday. So demand a total separation between politics and sports. Now that might make it hard to build stadiums, or coordinate to make sure that the big business of football gets the support it needs from local and state government to function. And the NFL would have to stop its lobbying activities. That’s right, the NFL spends over a million dollars a year lobbying government officials, providing the kind of access that Colin Kaepernick doesn’t have. I’m sure the NFL would be happy to give up their lobbying activities and the power it gives them just so you can keep acting like you live in a world free of politics.

End extrajudicial police killing–I mean the protests aren’t about you, they’re about protesting the police killings of black people and inequality in our country. Maybe if the government did something about the reasons that people protests instead of complaining about the protestors then there would be nothing to protest about and wa-la nothing standing between you and your much-anticipated hand on your heart moment! The opposite of “no justice, no peace” is “justice, peace.” Make it happen!

Los Angeles has football fever and they have it BAD pic.twitter.com/nvQOg1kp6l

— Clemzingis (@TheClemReport) September 10, 2017

Join the football boycott–If you can’t stand to witness NFL players exercise their right to free speech, if you’re unwilling to support a fair justice system to end protests, if you just want to act like Muhammed Ali and Jackie Robinson don’t prove that politics and sports always go together then just stop watching football. That’s right, boycott the NFL until free speech is outlawed and athletes muzzled. You won’t be alone, either. Months ago Black Lives Matter activists and community leaders called for a boycott. An unknown number of people answered the call to participate in the boycott over the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick. Early reports say attendance is down for both pre and regular season games even before Trump galvanized previously divided players and owners this week.

A final caution: while you’re trying to end the protests using these tips, you might just find yourself advocating for justice and an end to systemic racism. You might find yourself creating a more peaceful world where we could all relax and enjoy a game instead of worrying about imminent nuclear war. You might just start to realize that fighting with the protestors is going to give you the real win, champ.

The Right to Use Wrong Words

This week the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, a Northern California Native American tribe ran this ad during the during the NBA finals.

The ad is a shorter cut of a longer version that has been making the rounds on the internet for a few months now. Controversy over the Washington Redskins is nothing new–we covered it here. Last season saw louder and more pointed calls for owner Dan Snyder to change the racist moniker, including a statement from the POTUS–all of which he ignored. Makes you wonder who really is the most powerful man in the world….

Viewers of the NBA finals are sure to have a leg up on Dan Snyder in the cause-effect relationship between racist behavior and team ownership. Snyder has clearly operated under the assumption that his decision on the team name is his and his alone.

Dan Snyder, Donald Sterling on the line….what’s that Don? Stripped of my ownership? They can’t do that….

Or can they? That is the lingering question in the slow moving explosion that is the Donald Sterling situation. What seemed so clear in the light of our outrage a few weeks ago was that a team owner could not be a raging racist ruling a plantation of players. Despite hard core hold outs on the wrong side of racial tolerance, most agreed Sterling had to go. Players from across the league boldly put integrity before profit and pledged not to return to play if Sterling still owned the team come fall.

Despite all of Sterling’s best efforts to ~~get a beatdown in the parking lot~~ have a butterfly net thrown over him in an interview with Anderson Cooper, he still owns the team weeks later. Reversing an earlier agreement to sell the team for a madly profitable $2 billion, Sterling is suing the NBA for a billion dollars. Before you chalk this up to King-Lear-crazy, sure to end in tragedy, consider Sterling’s peer Snyder.

The term Redskins is a pejorative, racist name for Native Americans, period. The term has a long and ugly history, connected to a genocide, one of America’s darkest legacies. People directly affected by this have respectfully requested Snyder cease use of it many times. Widespread protest of many people, including fans have been to no avail. At what point does the decision to use the term pass from Dan Snyder to someone, anyone, who might make a change? What role does the NFL and the owners association have, if any?

The National Congress of American Indians released this poster to call attention to the offensive Redskins logo.

Dan Snyder is not Donald Sterling. It’s easy to dismiss the crazy Sterling circus, but what we do when the perpetrator is less crazy and more entrenched in both sanity and his property rights? With this protest ad running during the NBA finals, Native Americans are definitely letting the NFL know that their protests cannot continue to be ignored in an era where pointed racism is an unacceptable way to run a sports team.

With the precedent of the blow up surrounding Sterling, we can be sure that there are a few more rounds in the fight to retract the Redskins name. But with the outcome of the Sterling situation still in flux, hard questions remain ahead.

Creating a hostile work environment is against the law, but calling the Washington Redskins the Redskins is still legal even if increasingly unpopular. If we want to be fair, and respect the rights of people to not be represented in terribly racist ways, then we have to keep the pressure on Snyder and the NFL to make change.

There is power in protest if it is partnered with persistence, but it has to be more than a few lone voices. Take a moment to shoot your good friend Dan Snyder a tweet here @Redskins, or a Facebook message here–help him avoid another season of shame.

99 Problems And Slurs Are 1

Peyton can thankfully put this year’s Superbowl in the rear view, but for the rest of the NFL, the off season’s drama is just as lively as the regular season. Michael Sam made an appearance this weekend answering questions about his position in the draft, his play on the field, but mostly about is sexual orientation.

As much attention as Micheal Sam occasioned this weekend, the issue of acceptance of professional male gay athletes is just beginning. Much older, and still in many ways unresolved, is the issue of racial diversity in the NFL. This season again spurred several high profile racial flaps like those that we talked about here, and here.

The NFL is now considering a new rule that would levy a 15 yard penalty against players using a racial slur on the field during the game. Before it is even voted into place, the rule is already stirring up a predictable hornets’ nest of naysayers. Will the rule be equally enforced? And if so, by whom? Won’t it ruin the game to have to police players’ language? Oh, and the game is so rough, maybe calling people n@##er and f$**ot are part of the game we can’t do without.

The NFL, despite their sweet tax status, is a workplace. I don’t know about you, but if I yelled a racial slur at my colleague in a faculty meeting, best believe I would be packing up my office by the end of the day. Now, I don’t want my football ruined any more than you do, but if we’re going to fine players for this:

and this

shouldn’t we fine them for yelling n@&&er on live TV? And if we do, will we fine this guy every time he says redskins?

daniel snyder — Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins, say he will “never” change the name. That’ll be 15 yards per use, Snyder.

501c-whaaa?!

Thank you for your contribution to this fine ...charity? — Thank you for your contribution to this fine …charity?

Do You Have To Be Right To Not be Treated Wrong?

Richard Sherman is $7875.00 away from putting this week’s scream-obsessed circus behind him. The Seattle Seahawks’ cornerback has taken the week to turn an outpouring of criticism over a live on-camera interview into an opportunity to school us in stereotypes. Now he just needs to pay his league fine and go on to play in the league’s biggest event where he will have the chance to respond on the field. In case you missed it, at the conclusion of the Seahawks Forty-niners playoff game, Erin Andrews stopped Sherman for a little post-game chit chat.

Sherman delivered an earsplitting takedown of his rival on the field. Within hours the Twitterverse lit up with criticism of Sherman’s “outburst”, and TV followed suit with a days worth of attention devoted to Sherman’s interview that used the word thug 625 times, according to Deadspin. It didn’t take long for Sherman, not known for being quiet, to shoot back with some commentary of his own.

Instead of delivering a dose of profanity, Sherman wrangled the criticism and elevated the conversation. While he brushed off any implication that the criticism may destroy him, he did point out that he was bothered by the use of the word thug as a code word for the infamous n-word. He correctly reminded us that in American parlance, when they call him a thug, they don’t mean that he is lurking around with brass knuckles, but that he is one in a long line of totally expected black brutes.

Is he right? Sure. You don’t need a word that starts with N to ring the bell of racism against black men. What other choices do you have? Try thug, brute, street, gangster, threat, hood, ape, pimp, dropout and a host of other names that trace a line decade by decade back through American history. These words come and go like fashion, but the pattern of racism persists.

Richard Sherman, Ivy League graduate has proved that he is not these things. He’s chosen to use this moment to draw our attention to the use of code words in common conversation to link black men who are public figures to long standing racist historical misrepresentations. Sooo excellent. This time it turns out that Sherman was the wrong dude to mess with.

But here’s the thing. You shouldn’t have to be the right person to not be treated the wrong way. Whether you are a Stanford graduate or just a guy on the grind, no man deserves to be defined by stereotypes.