(ThyBlackMan.com) The NFL has come to a “resolution” regarding its policy for the national anthem. The biggest news from the NFL is that the NFL owners have approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer. It could accurately be called the “Colin Kaepernick Policy” after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who started protesting during the national anthem in 2016 against the racial oppression and police brutality of black people and people of color.
There are a lot of questions regarding the policy that will play out during the 2018 NFL season that show the national anthem “issue” may not be over. There is also a certain irony that the NFL takes this action regarding the national anthem in 2018, 50 years after a significant American moment.
One of the most important images in American sports history occurred on October 16, 1968. During the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, American Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos won the gold medal and bronze medals, respectively, for the 200 meter race. While on the medal stand as the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, was played, Smith and Carlos bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists.
The visual has been known as “The Black Power Salute” but Smith and Carlos were clear about their intentions regarding their protest. Smith said, “If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say ‘a Negro’. We are black and we are proud of being black.” It was important to John Carlos and Tommie Smith to highlight black oppression and poverty in 1968, which mirrors Colin Kaepernick’s reason for his protest in 2016.
The NFL’s new national anthem policy creates more questions than it solves. It requires that NFL players must “stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem” while on the field. The wording of “showing respect for the flag and the anthem” is highly subjective. Clearly, sitting or taking a knee during the national anthem as Kaepernick did are seen as “disrespectful to the flag and anthem” according to this policy but is raising a fist or interlocking arms with teammates seen as disrespectful? Over the past two years, multiple NFL players have raised fists or interlocked arms during the anthem to demonstrate instead of kneeling.
This new policy also subjects teams to a fine if a player or any other team personnel do not show respect for the anthem and teams that receive those fines also will have the option to fine any team personnel, including players, for the infraction. New York Jets chairman Christopher Johnson says he’ll pay any national anthem-related fines for Jets players related to the new policy this coming season. He was previously against forcing NFL players to stand and said, “I just think that trying to forcibly get the players to shut up is a fantastically bad idea.”
NFL owners also made the mistake of not working with the NFL players union to develop this policy. The NFLPA was displeased with the policy and may have a potential fight regarding it. Now that NFL players who were demonstrating on the field are forced into the locker room instead, there are different and more creative opportunities for NFL players to show their voices. This issue is far from over and it will be interesting to see how NFL players respond to this new policy when the NFL season starts.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines