NFL Owners' National Anthem Policy Shows They Are Racist and Un-American

The National Football League is downright un-American. Its billionaire owners are out-of-touch with the players and the African-American community. This is an organization in which the employers see themselves as plantation masters and the employees as their slaves.

This is why the league is always enacting idiotic rules such as the one approved last week that would fine teams when players kneel to protest injustice against blacks in the United States. It's just a way to trash NFL athletes who want to stand up for their disenfranchised brothers and sisters. Last season, black people boycotted the league after ex-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was blackballed for starting the protests.

After all the money the owners lost, you'd think they'd engage in dialogue with protesting players. Instead, they prefer to use their remaining dollars to influence politicians to give teams tax breaks and other economic incentives. That money would be better spent combatting gun violence that is killing so many children, not only in Parkland and Santa Fe but also in black communities where deranged white guys such as George Zimmerman are allowed to kill black teenage boys without any consequences.

The NFL owners reflect how racism still rules in America. I see and hear it every day. White people make racist arguments to justify their support for making players stand for the National Anthem. This country has enacted sanctions against Cuba, North Korea, and Iran for human-rights violations, yet the United States does more to violate minorities' human rights than any other nation on Earth.

The only reason NFL owners can get away with enacting Jim Crow-style rules is that President Donald Trump is a racist. If it weren't for his tweets about the National Anthem protests, his billionaire buddies might have actually done something to help this country rather than harm it. 

The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can't kneel during our National Anthem!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2017

If NFL owners and white people want to be holier-than-thou Americans, why is the league taking time and money from the Armed Forces to put on so-called patriotic displays before kickoff? (John McCain recently divulged the league has accepted more than $5 million from the government for these displays.) These funds could be used to help care for our veterans. If NFL owners were really serious about patriotism, they'd honor the military for free rather than accepting millions for the privilege. And they would allow players to express themselves freely — without fear of retribution.

Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.