Colin Kaepernick made a major splash when he decided to make a public act of protest by first sitting then kneeling for the national anthem. Many have taken very vocal and active stances for or against the act. Many are following Kaepernick’s lead in protesting by sitting or kneeling during the anthem. Football players on every level from the NFL to Little League are sitting or kneeling for the anthem. Soccer player and member of the U.S. Women’s National Team Megan Rapinoe is one of the notable professional athletes to participate as well.
Recently, the first wave of actual retaliation was handed out, as Denver Broncos middle linebacker Brandon Marshall lost two endorsements from CenturyLink and the Air Academy Federal Credit Union. Both of these private companies have every right to cut their endorsement deals with Marshall, but just like they interpreted the protest to mean a certain thing, I take their termination of these deals to convey a strong message as well.
These companies are sending the message that they don’t care about black people or the inequities that black people face within the U.S. legal system. It is saying that these companies either refuse to see the fact that nearly every study done by a credible source proves racial bias in stops conducted by police, use of force and police killings or they realized these things exist but they couldn’t care less.
For example, in Ferguson, Missouri, where Mike Brown was shot and killed by officer Darren Wilson, a Department of Justice investigation shows that the aforementioned racial bias is a sad reality that is all too common.
“Officers expect and demand compliance even when they lack legal authority,” the report’s authors wrote. “They are inclined to interpret the exercise of free-speech rights as unlawful disobedience, innocent movements as physical threats, indications of mental or physical illness as belligerence.
“African-Americans are more than twice as likely as white drivers to be searched during vehicle stops even after controlling for non-race based variables such as the reason the vehicle stop was initiated, but are found in possession of contraband 26 percent less often than white drivers, suggesting officers are impermissibly considering race as a factor when determining whether to search.”
Some would argue that Missouri, while being in the Midwest, isn’t as progressive and fair as places in the North and out on the West Coast. However, studies and investigations from places seen as forward-thinking like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco sight similar realities for their black citizens.
The city of Los Angeles recently agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement with Sgt. Wayne Guillary over discrimination in the city’s police department. In New York, it was found that “88 percent of [stop and frisk] stops resulted in no further action, and 83 percent of the stopped population were black or Hispanic, despite the fact that those minority groups, together, made up just over half of the city’s overall population.”
In San Francisco, a report put together by retired state and federal judges said, “although Black people accounted for less than 15 percent of all stops in 2015, they accounted for over 42 percent of all non-consent searches following stops.” The same report also shows, “Of all people searched without consent, Black and Hispanic people had the lowest ‘hit rates’ (i.e., the lowest rate of contraband recovered).”
So in essence, these places are not outliers, they are the norm, yet black athletes need to find a better way to protest. I don’t think the owners of these two establishments have the same fear for their kids that my mother has of my siblings and I. They probably don’t have to worry about their family members being harassed and having their rights violated on the basis of skin color.
The Air Academy Federal Credit Union cutting ties with Marshall is expected, as they have strong ties with the military. The executives at the AAFCU still should be ashamed of themselves because those veterans fought so that we don’t live in a country where you are legally unable to express dissent with our leaders.
It still amazes me how people are saying Marshall is getting what he deserves in losing these sponsorships. Many of those people say the flag stands for those who fought and died as if you can tell somewhat else what a symbol should mean to them. For example, to me a police badge often means surveil, harass, abuse and violate, but I can’t tell anyone who reads this what it should mean to them.
