Credit where credit is due. Roger Goodell definitely failed in truly backing his players with this politically correct public statement that he (wink, wink) totally conjured up all by himself. But hey, at least he found a more socially acceptable use of the President's "many sides...many sides" argument! Context aside, there is nothing wrong with the promotion of "mutual respect" between police officers and predominantly black professional athletes. Unfortunately, this particular context featured a black professional athlete - who happened to be completely innocent - being forced face-first to an unforgiving surface while referring to the police officer that had a knee dug into his spine and weapon drawn behind his head as "sir". Perhaps my definition of "mutual" differs from that of the NFL's, but that reverence seems one-sided enough to mention directly. Now, I can't say I expected something other than an overly diplomatic line of bullshit that continues to avoid addressing the obvious truth that African Americans of every tax bracket are more likely to end up with a literal or figurative target on their back. After all, the league views kneeling as an unforgivable act of terrorism, so god forbid they attempt to tackle the violent issue that's ultimately responsible for the peaceful protest. Still, it would have been nice and - to be quite frank - easy for the Commissioner to stray ever-so-slightly from toeing the company line, and back those that make his product possible instead of worrying about stepping on the toes of his political connects. Especially since the employer of the unquestionably guilty party didn't hesitate to give him such a quick defense that some might even view it as being laughably blind to the actual offense...
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