NFL players speak out: 'The president should be commended,' but with a catch
In what might be one of the most surprising bits of NFL news in recent memory, a faction of NFL players, including some prominent anthem protesters, actually gave President Donald Trump something akin to a compliment.
Of course, it wasn’t without its glaring caveats.
In an Op-Ed for The New York Times, Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, retired receiver Anquan Boldin, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson collectively responded to Trump’s comments reaching out to NFL players about potential pardon candidates.
The Op-Ed, headlined “N.F.L. Players to Trump: Here’s Whom You Should Pardon,” started with a surprisingly positive tone, considering the acrimonious relationship between Trump and the NFL protesters.
“To be sure, the president’s clemency power can be a valuable tool for redressing injustice,” the players wrote. “Just look at Alice Johnson, age 63, who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction until her sentence was commuted by President Trump.”
The players even went so far as to say that Trump should be commended.
“He should be commended for using his clemency power in that case,” they said.
Of course, the Op-Ed was not going to be a glowing piece on the president considering who wrote it. The NFL players quickly pivoted to demand even more of Trump than the olive branch of pardons he was extending.
“But a handful of pardons will not address the sort of systemic injustice that NFL players have been protesting,” the players said. The tone of the article quickly changed from there, as they seemed to blame Trump for the aforementioned “systemic injustice.”
“These are problems that our government has created, many of which occur at the local level,” they wrote. “If President Trump thinks he can end these injustices if we deliver him a few names, he hasn’t been listening to us.
“As Americans, it is our constitutional right to question injustices when they occur, and we see them daily: police brutality, unnecessary incarceration, excessive criminal sentencing, residential segregation and educational inequality.”
One issue with their claim is that nobody has ever argued that they don’t have the constitutional right to protest and question injustices. The blowback players have gotten for protesting during the national anthem has far more to do with the utilization of the anthem as a political platform, which many Americans view as disrespectful and divisive, and far less to do with their right to do so.
The players also begged Trump to ignore their status as professional athletes and treat them as citizens of the United States.
“President Trump, please note: Our being professional athletes has nothing to do with our commitment to fighting injustice. We are citizens who embrace the values of empathy, integrity and justice, and we will fight for what we believe is right. We weren’t elected to do this. We do it because we love this country, our communities and the people in them. This is our America, our right,” the players said.
Again, nobody is denying them their right. There are swathes of Americans who likely would be willing to engage on topics of improving society, had they not been so vehemently turned off by anthem protests. One of the players in the Op-Ed, Jenkins, made a point to raise his fist for the majority of last season during the national anthem.
Malcolm Jenkins says he will continue to raise fist during national anthem this season https://t.co/QD6aAB6jwz pic.twitter.com/XURRNPx3dr
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 11, 2017
The players didn’t identify any individuals for the president to pardon but said he should release older inmates like Johnson and drug offenders who have already served long sentences.
As of this writing, neither Trump nor the White House has responded to the Op-Ed.
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