“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.” –Man in the Mirror, Michael Jackson
Today was my first day of my Newswriting & Reporting class at DU. In the class, we all pitched stories that we thought would be great to put in a news-media source. Being a football fan, I got to thinking about San Francisco 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s protest of kneeling during the performance of the national anthem of the United States of America. Of course, it’s been reported AT LEAST a million times now, right? Why would my story be the one people read? Well, I think it would be great to take a different angle on the story. We’ve seen the aftermath of Kaepernick’s protest: his increased jersey sales, the other players joining him (including the entire Seattle Seahawks team), and the withdrawal of Denver Broncos LB Brandon Marshall’s endorsement deals following his joining of the protest. The players and coaches (and their endorsements) know how much of an impact they have on society. They also have stated the problem that they are protesting (police brutality). “Now, though, it’s time to take the next step and take actions into the community.” -San Francisco 49ers S Antoine Bethea, who joined Kaepernick’s protest prior to their win over the Los Angeles Rams last night, “We need to take action now.” Great, Bethea. We know that protesting players want to take action. If you want to see change and action, why don’t you do more than just tell the world that you want that? NFL players are in the spotlight enough that they can influence the action that is taken. I want to see NFL players actually come up with an action plan for solving the problem that they’re protesting. That would be a great story, right? If Kaepernick suggested a solution to the problem instead of just pointing it out, can you imagine how quickly the problem would get solved? Such is the impact of NFL athletes. His jersey sales increased just from his protesting! I can say for a fact that I would respect Kaepernick if he came up with a solution. So, I say this: If you want to see the problem solved, help solve it! I don’t know if this blog reaches any NFL players, so I ask all of you who read this, to spread the word. Let’s get this to some protesting NFL players, and encourage them to step up to the plate and be the solution they so desperately want! If they don’t step up, who will? The government?…
TheHaysWay 