After years of controversy over protests during the national anthem, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview this week that he wished he had listened earlier to controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protests on police brutality.
Goodell appeared on the latest episode of the interview series “Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man” hosted by former NFL linebacker and current Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho.
The commissioner began the conversation by claiming he was “very comfortable” talking about race because of his upbringing with a politician father who was very involved in the civil rights movement.
The 61-year-old admitted that he had no idea what was happening in black communities in 2016 when Kaepernick and other players began peacefully protesting by taking a knee during the national anthem, something that angered many conservative fans.
He said wish he knew back then “what was going on in the communities.”
“When I had the chance to sit with our players, I never had the chance to sit with Kaep[ernick], but I talked with Kenny Stills a lot, Eric Reid, Malcolm Jenkins, Anquan Boldin … so many other players that, some of them sacrificed a great deal,” Goodell, who has served as the league’s commissioner since 2006, shared.
Acho, 29, commended Goodell for posting a video message earlier in the year, admitting the NFL’s fault in not listening to players sooner when it comes to the injustices African Americans face and encouraged them to protest peacefully. In 2018, the league issued a policy to require players that didn’t want to stand for the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” to wait in the locker room.
The host said the league’s statement this June admitting fault was “valuable.”
“At least as a former player, as a black man in society, that message, it resonated with me, it spoke to me,” Acho said. “You said you listened, you heard, you learned. You even apologized to so many.”
However, Goddell’s statement in June did not include a specific apology to Kaepernick, a 32-year-old former San Francisco 49er who has not played in the league since the 2016 season.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Jeannie Law
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