Just days after rumors that the National Football League was apparently moving on from the in-your-face racial virtue signaling of the past few seasons by no longer adding the phrase “End Racism” in the endzone, the NFL continued to racially divide its base with the same messaging and a major stunt during Thursday night’s season opener between the reigning Super Bowl champion, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the up-and-coming Detroit Lions.
Prior to the singing of our country’s one and only National Anthem, the NFL decided to virtue signal once again, like they have at previous big games such as last year’s Super Bowl, by including a performance of “Lift Every Voice,” also known as the “Black National Anthem.”
The crowd at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Chiefs, lifted their voices with boos and fans proclaimed their disdain, even calling for the Bud Light treatment of the NFL after the announcement that the Black National Anthem would be performed.
It is also worth noting that almost every major sports media outlet meanwhile praised the number of starting black quarterbacks.
Even though the majority of the NFL is black, that doesn’t stop the narrative that has been pushed for years that the only reason we don’t see more black starting quarterbacks is because of “racism.” Seriously, I’m not making this up. This has been the narrative.
This is the difference between equity and equality. Equity is about equal outcome. Equality is equal opportunity.
The fact of the matter is, sports are a meritocracy. There are no handouts. The best players get the job. Fans don’t care what your skin color is. They care if you can run the offense and win games, while being a good representation for the franchise on and off the field.
Plain and simple, these kinds of decisions by the NFL are divisive and do nothing to bridge the racial divide that our government and now our sports leagues perpetuate.
When will the NFL learn not to mess with our National Anthem by implying that we need another one based on race? When will the league realize the fans can’t stand this virtue signaling? When will they just play football?
