Essay on Trump's Rally in Alabama: Proposal to Sack NFL Players for Anthem Protests

Introduction

On September 22, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump oversaw a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama, where he proposed that the National Football League (NFL) should sack all players who politically protested when the U.S. national anthem was playing (Edelman, 2018). Trump also stated that the government will take away the league's massive tax breaks if they continue to protest during the U.S. national anthem (Edelman, 2018). During the 2016-17 season, a section of NFL players resulted in kneeling during the national anthem to protest against systemic discrimination. These actions elicited profound public controversy and polarized attitudes towards the protests. The paper will focus on why it is wrong or unethical for NFL players to kneel during the national anthem.

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During the 2016-17 pre-season, Colin Kaepernick, a 49years old quarterback, sat instead of standing attention during the national anthem as a protest of apparent police brutality towards African American men and institutional prejudice in the U.S (Sevi et al., 2019). It was a smart decision, as it meant that NFL players strongly oppose police brutality and institutional racism in the US. In the ensuing weeks, many players across the NFL league joined Kaepernick in the protest, the majority of them sitting and raising a fist instead of standing up during the national anthem.

The NFL player's campaigns affected not only the NFL but also the general public. In a report released by Rasmussen demonstrated that NFL viewers were 35 percent less expected to watch a game due to the protests (Sevi et al., 2019). The advocators of the protests argued that the players were only exercising their fundamental right to free speech, and were concerned by the problem of systemic racism in the U.S. On the other hand, the opposers of players sitting down during the national anthem stated that the protests demeaned the military, and disrespected the police authority. The two opinions elicited two different narratives in the media that offer some insights on what mental factors envisaged whether or not an individual supported NFL players' demonstration (Casteel, 2017). However, the supporters of the NFL players protest during the national anthem provided constitutional reasoning that showed clearly that these players were right for not standing up during the national anthem.

The objective of the NFL players' demonstrations is to foster public awareness of the professed police brutality towards African American men, and systemic racism against black individuals (Sevi et al., 2019). The media often proposed that adverse perception towards the protests stemmed from not ideally understanding or esteeming the culture and experiences of African Americans. Ethnocentrism is the propensity to view one's culture as the center of everything and to perceive other people's way of a lie as less significant (Sevi et al., 2019). On this end, NFL players should not have knelt during the national anthem as a sign of respect for the military, and patriotism.

Main Arguments

According to the CBS research, approximately 62 percent disapproved of the actions of players kneeling during the national anthem citing that undermined their patriotism towards their nation (Crawley, 2017). Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, is another prominent person who castigated the action of kneeling by the NFL players as an act of protesting against the police brutality against the Black citizens (Crawley, 2017). In October 2017, he told the Cowboys organization that any player who engages in the protest should not be permitted to play (Crawley, 2017). NFL players should stand when the national flag is being hoisted or removed because the action of kneeling makes their team portray a bad picture, and further a club will be fined by the league if it's players that are on the field do not stand and show respect to the flag and the anthem. The respect of the national anthem should supersede all other things (Crawley, 2017). Kaepernick and other black NFL players should have staged a non-violent protest to express his views on a rapid form of systemic racism, and police brutality against African Americans (Crawley, 2017).

The action by NFL players of kneeling during the national anthem is a breach of the American law and cultural norm. The individuals in the Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) value adherence to tradition (Sevi et al., 2019). Therefore, RWA developed negative attitudes towards NFL players who did not show respect on the national flag and yet wanted their views to be heard by Trump's administration (Sevi et al., 2019). The players who chose to kneel during the national anthem advanced ethnocentrism since they developed a tendency to view their culture as the center of the patriotism of the nation.

Another argument as to why NFL players should not kneel during the national anthem is that it is an inappropriate means of promoting a protest of social injustice. Kneeling during the national anthem can be a profound distraction to other teammates and other sports-related activities. It can further create an intense controversy for those who do not agree with the style of protest like in the Kaepernick case where not all Black NFL players agreed on the move to kneel during the national anthem. The national anthem resembles a symbol of unity amidst all the problems and challenges that the citizens may be enduring, therefore, once individuals see a play kneel its hard for the officials to understand that they are trying to put a point across, and it will automatically be viewed as a disrespect to the military people.

The Retired Army Col. Kelly reprimanded Kaepernick citing that "he is not a freedom fighter leading your people out of slavery. You are a naive athlete who's only blowing the fires of racism by sitting on the sidelines for a principle that you only comprehend via a simplistic post story that is a little more than a hashtag protest" (Martin & McHendry Jr, 2016). President Trump has reiterated that any player who does not respect the national flag should face the full wrath of the American justice system. Therefore, if an individual or groups have a plan to express themselves over the current undertakings, policies, or actions by the law enforcement officers, it is prudent to approach the situation in a more civilized manner that is under the thresholds of the Eighth Amendment (Martin & McHendry Jr, 2016). However, it is important to underscore that this constitutional amendment on the freedom of speech does not allow any individual or groups to disrespect the national flag.

After President Trump made an atrocious comment regarding the NFL organization, it led all teams to protests against being divided rather than being integrated as the President of the United States should do (Jerca, 2015). This paragraph will also highlight how Trump's use of strong words like "sons of bitches", Suggs may have prompted the players to be adamant on taking a stand during the national anthem (Jerca, 2015). The players had a more unified reason against not taking a stand citing the reason that the president had demeaned the Black culture by abusing them. Therefore, as the debate of respecting the national flag sojourns on, political leaders such as President Trump should have used decent words to condemn and sensitize other players on the significance of taking a stand during the national anthem (Jerca, 2015). It means that the African Americans perceived the insulting remarks by President Trump as a lack of respect for them, and they do not feel it worthy to show respect in turn. In a nutshell, leaders should play a leading role in enforcing or advocating the importance of its citizens to show the utmost respect and dignity to the national flag as it is the unifying factor.

Counterargument

Despite there being an increased call for NFL players to show patriotism by taking a stand during the national anthem, for Kaepernick's case he had no motive to show disrespect to the military who put their lives on the line every day to guarantee the citizens the freedom they enjoy. The change in position from sitting to kneeling was designed to be more respectful to everyone seeing it, particularly the military people (Roaden, 2019). This was the only pragmatic way that Kaepernick would have used to express his concern over the growing number of institutional racism and police brutality on African Americans (Roaden, 2019). Therefore, the kneeling position was misquoted as it meant to be respectful, but also take a strong stand against the actions of law enforcement officers on the minorities.

Former President Obama defended Kaepernick's method of protesting against the systemic racism, and police brutality, and urged "both sides" to listen to each other's views. "I believe that it is the fundamental right for every citizen to honor our flag and its national anthem as it is what unifies the nation (Murty et al., 2018). However, I also try to accentuate on the need of the administration to recognize the rights of citizens that have a differing opinion, as the Eighth Amendment on the freedom of speech does not affect the method an individual or parties use to express their opinions as long as it is not violent or abusive" (Murty et al., 2018).

Rebuttal

The only rebuttal stems from the speech by US President Trump where he termed the neo-Nazis protests on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia as "very fine people", whereas the kneeling action by NFL athletes as unpatriotic, and going ahead to call them "Sons of a bitch" as among the social injustices they were trying to strongly condemn (Murty et al., 2018). It simply means that the President should lead by example by ensuring fairness, equity prevails and that all ethnic groups residing in America are well represented before informing them to respect the national flag and anthem that discriminates and brutalizes them.

Conclusion

The paper has provided a comprehensive argumentative analysis on whether NFL players should kneel or take a stand during the national anthem. However, my main discussion has focused on why these players should take a stand during the national anthem despite there being a conclusive platform for them to express their views on the social injustices of the police officers on the Black civilians. The paper has explained three ideal reasons why NFL players should take a stand during the national anthem. First, it is a sign of respect to the military officers and the police in general who put their lives at risk to ensure the nation is safe and secure. Second, it is also a sign of patriotism to American law and its cultural norms. Thirdly, it is an ineffective way of promoting a protest of social injustice, bearing in mind that there are other ways Black NFL players would have expressed their views; for example, through peaceful demonstrations.

References

Casteel, K. (2017). How do Americans feel about the NFL protests? It depends on how you ask. FiveThirtyEight, FiveThirtyEight, 9. http://www.captainmath.net/HowDoAmericansFeelAboutTheNFLProtests_ItDependsOnHowYouAsk.pdf

Crawley, A. (2017). When Football and Politics Collide: An Analysis of the Responses to NFL Players Kneeling During the National Anthem. https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/317207/oksd_crawley_HT_2017.pdf?sequence=1

Edelman, M. (2018). Standing to Kneel: Analyzing NFL Players' Freedom to Protest during the Playing of the US National Anthem. Fordham L. Rev. Online, 86, 1. https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=flro

Jerca, A. M. (2015). Taking a knee in American football: A semiotic case study. social analysis, 5. http://lass.suda.edu.cn/...