NFL player’s vapid protest

The latest racially inspired brouhaha involves San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has been refusing to stand at games for the National Anthem to protest injustice delivered to African-Americans. There’s no argument with his right.

The irony is that he, like most professionals in the National Football League, have enjoyed inordinate largesse from this society, not deprivation or sports-related discrimination. Indeed, Kaepernick, abandoned by his father and given up for adoption by his mother, was raised by adoptive white parents.

In fact, “reverse discrimination” is operative in professional sports since 67 percent of NFL football players are black. Seventy-four percent of National Basketball Association players are black.

Nor has Kaepernick suffered from financial constraints. His 2016 salary (including bonuses) will be $15,890,753, even though he may spend most of his time riding the bench or recovering from possible surgery.

Most likely, he is caught up in the Black Lives Matter movement, pointing the finger at mostly white policemen, never mind that blacks kill each other most of the time. If he were a person of official importance, his protest might mean something. But, just as in the case of other millionaire entertainers, it’s “sound and fury signifying nothing” ... but ignorance.

This story was originally published September 2, 2016 at 8:21 PM with the headline "NFL player’s vapid protest."