In honor of our 53rd annual super bowl, I bring to you a story I have always wanted to look into but never really did until now. As many of us know, there has been a controversy when it comes to kneeling during the national anthem. It has been stated that players must stay off the field if they do not want to stand or they could face a fine. At face value, this may not seem like a racist policy, but if we dig deeper into the makeup of race in the different layers of the NFL, we come to see that about 70% of the players are black. When it comes to higher positions though, blacks make up about 20% of the head coaches, 9% of managers in the league office, and 0% of CEOs or presidents in the NFL. The policy was put in place by the owners of the NFL, which is 100% made up of rich white men who are in no way affected in the same way as the black players on the field. With this pot in place, it is a lot more likely that a black player would be fined than any other race. If they take the other option and stay off the field, they are now being made invisible so it’s truly a lose-lose situation for them. Our president even made a comment stating that any player who kneels is a “son of a bitch” and “maybe shouldn’t be in the country”. With so many powerful wealthy white men disproving this, it’s hard to combat and stand up for your rights. I don’t believe many people realize how connected to race this actually is. It makes me wonder that if blacks are being oppressed in a game in which they make up the greatest percentage and it seems to just blow over, how will we ever find equality?

By: Jaide Tucker