Super Bowl champ blasts Jerry Jones for national anthem hard stance on players
The Eagles and Cowboys, like the cities of Philadelphia and Dallas that they represent, are on opposite sides of America’s ongoing debate over the national anthem.
So, of course, it would be an Eagles player who put Cowboys owner Jerry Jones on blast for his hardline stance on national anthem protests.
And in the process, Malcolm Jenkins put President Donald Trump in the radius of his remarks as well.
Jenkins went on NBC News and told Lester Holt that he is thankful to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie for allowing players free expression in regard to protest before and during games.
Jones, meanwhile, is seen by Jenkins as a bully who is suppressing free speech.
“Jeffrey’s been very supportive of us from the beginning. I don’t see Jeffrey as a bully like Jerry Jones is. Lucky for me, I don’t play for the Cowboys, nor would I want to. It’s unfortunate that you have owners like him that use his position to intimidate and intentionally thwart even the idea of his players thinking individually or having a voice about (an) issue that affects their communities daily. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
Jenkins also went a step further and accused the NFL of moral cowardice in bowing to the president’s requests that football be a show of patriotism, while also accusing the league of clouding the reason for protest by claiming it’s disrespectful to the country and to America’s soldiers.
“They’re afraid of our president I think they’re afraid of half of our fan base so they try to appease both sides and they end up not satisfying anybody.”
“They know more than anybody that it’s not about the flag, it’s not about the anthem. They’ve been right along with us. They met with police along with us, we invited them to our events, they’ve seen our meetings with community activists. They know it has nothing to do with the military. The fact that they continue that rhetoric further divides this league and further divide players and owners and even our country. It continues to push that narrative that’s frankly not true.”
Jenkins also spoke to what he saw as the value of protest in a free society.
“At the end of the day, protests and fighting back is the American way,” Jenkins said. “That’s the most American thing you can do, use your voice.”
Jenkins did, however, contend that players were past the point of raising awareness of issues affecting the black community — Colin Kaepernick’s stated reason for starting the protests in 2016 — and had gotten into the point where their activism needs to start producing tangible results in the community, not just a divided fan base at football games.
“I think it’s starting to shift. I don’t think it’s as important,” Jenkins said. “The purpose of all the demonstrations was to create dialogue. It’s more about the work now.”
Jenkins compared the talk about police brutality and race in America as similar to the league’s previous positive strides taken toward issues like domestic violence and breast cancer.
When Holt asked if the protests were “good for football,” Jenkins replied, “I mean, that’s not my concern. We can talk about social issues and still have a great game. We talked about domestic violence for a whole year. We had commercials, we had things on the field. Nobody had an issue with that. We talk about breast cancer for a whole month every year, you wear pink on the field … no issues with that. We start talking about black issues and issues of race, now all of a sudden we just want football. We don’t want all that extra stuff, we just want to watch the game.”
Jerry Jones has taken a hard line. Owners like Jeffrey Lurie in Philadelphia and Steve Tisch of the Giants, on the other hand, are standing up to the league and the president by saying they will not fine or discipline players who protest.
And as the debate between liberals and conservatives continues to intensify, so too is that rift reflected in all walks of American life.
But when the last echoes of “and the home of the brave” dissipate, there is still football to be played.
And Jeff Lurie will be a lot less supportive if guys like Jenkins can’t help the Eagles get back to the Super Bowl.
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