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[Kristin Meredith]

pmillem, it is a small point, but one I would like to make. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, six of the original thirteen colonies were slave-owning colonies: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. According to Thomas Ladenburg, author of "Making the Constitution," only 25 of the 55 delegates owned slaves.  So a majority of the men who wrote and approved the U.S. Constitution were not slave owners, although I agree that they thought only white men who were property owners/business owners should have a vote. Slavery was and is a grave stain on our history with repercussions down the centuries.  But even in our slave holding past, there were Americans who did not believe in the practice and even tried to have it written into the Constitution as an outlawed practice.

And I have no problem with any athlete speaking their mind on a political subject, just as I have always had the right to speak my mind on a political subject -- but not when I was in Court being paid by my client to represent them.  That is the distinction I make.  Sure, I don't write a player a check, but by watching a game or buying a ticket and going to a game, I am essentially their client and having them share their political beliefs is not what I am paying them for. And yes, a football field might be a big stage.  Arguing before a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- one step below the U.S. Supreme Court -- was also the biggest/greatest stage I ever stood upon, but I was still there because my client was paying me to represent them, not to express my personal political opinions. 

And perhaps I am way too cynical, but I don't think too many will take huge financial hits -- certainly not on the level I would have taken for doing what they do on the job.  We tolerate a lot from the famous and they know it. I don't question their cause, but I think a lot of folks don't watch entertainment or sports to have political causes pushed at them -- I think that is a reason all the Hollywood and Music and Broadway award show programs ratings are down. LeBron James could hire a stadium and tell folks he will pose for pictures and shake hands for free if they listen to him talk on racial justice for a half hour and he would have to turn crowds away -- and it would be covered on every network news that night.  They have plenty of opportunities to to have big stages to get their views out without doing it  "at work".

[okie smokie]

pmillem, it is a small point, but one I would like to make. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, six of the original thirteen colonies were slave-owning colonies: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. According to Thomas Ladenburg, author of "Making the Constitution," only 25 of the 55 delegates owned slaves.  So a majority of the men who wrote and approved the U.S. Constitution were not slave owners, although I agree that they thought only white men who were property owners/business owners should have a vote. Slavery was and is a grave stain on our history with repercussions down the centuries.  But even in our slave holding past, there were Americans who did not believe in the practice and even tried to have it written into the Constitution as an outlawed practice.

And I have no problem with any athlete speaking their mind on a political subject, just as I have always had the right to speak my mind on a political subject -- but not when I was in Court being paid by my client to represent them.  That is the distinction I make.  Sure, I don't write a player a check, but by watching a game or buying a ticket and going to a game, I am essentially their client and having them share their political beliefs is not what I am paying them for. And yes, a football field might be a big stage.  Arguing before a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- one step below the U.S. Supreme Court -- was also the biggest/greatest stage I ever stood upon, but I was still there because my client was paying me to represent them, not to express my personal political opinions. 

And perhaps I am way too cynical, but I don't think too many will take huge financial hits -- certainly not on the level I would have taken for doing what they do on the job.  We tolerate a lot from the famous and they know it. I don't question their cause, but I think a lot of folks don't watch entertainment or sports to have political causes pushed at them -- I think that is a reason all the Hollywood and Music and Broadway award show programs ratings are down. LeBron James could hire a stadium and tell folks he will pose for pictures and shake hands for free if they listen to him talk on racial justice for a half hour and he would have to turn crowds away -- and it would be covered on every network news that night.  They have plenty of opportunities to to have big stages to get their views out without doing it  "at work".

I'm with you on that K. 

[pmillen]

You make excellent points, Kristin.  I share your view on this...

Sure, I don't write a player a check, but by watching a game or buying a ticket and going to a game, I am essentially their client and having them share their political beliefs is not what I am paying them for.

I, too, wish that they take it to another stage.  But I admire their tenacity and acknowledge their right to "speak out".

That may be part of the strength of the players choosing their "stage" to speak from.  Loyal viewers and ticket holders will be faced with two minutes of discomfort and, hopefully, introspection in exchange for the entertainment.  They can vote with their pocketbooks.  I don't follow NFL football closely enough to know if the league or teams have made an attempt to stop the peaceful protests, but I think it would ultimately be settled in court, in much the same way that Curt Flood's legal battles finally resulted in Major League Baseball establishing free agency.

And perhaps I am way too cynical, but I don't think too many will take huge financial hits --

I don't know how many have or might.  The 48ers 49ers players Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid certainly did, but both have settled their cases where they asserted that the NFL colluded to deny them employment.  Nevertheless, many appear willing to take huge financial hits.

EDIT:  Corrected team name typo.

[yorkdude]

I spent well over an hour on the phone yesterday with my Sister. I am going to share this and then just stay out of it. I will be interested in other’s thoughts though.
To summarize what I gather as a result of our many conversations based on truly and openly doing my best to grasp what I don’t see from her perspective.
She is very interested in almost everything that promotes a cultural shift, which honestly, I am troubled by the majority of it, it scares me to be 100% honest. She was truly not this fervent prior to her “coming out”. I don’t know if that is the proper way to address it but I also DONT ask her how I should reference it, my apologies if I offended anyone.
I do my absolute best to “read between the lines” while conversing about that. We were born and raised in Northern California, specifically Los Gatos and spent every warm day in our small house in Santa Cruz. The reason I share this is because I am trying to portray what type of environment we grew up in, I am not sure (other people may educate me) on a more inclusive and tolerant area than that.
Both of us agree that we witnessed PEACEFUL shift’s in views other than ours.
I, to be totally honest left California with my wife and 2 young kids because I, as well as Gwennie could really sense the shift and frankly we decided to move.
Beth told me yesterday that the “tearing down of the statues” caused her to be more vigilant. This was AFTER one of their favorite coffee shop/cafe was destroyed. That made her “skin crawl” she said she would NEVER advocate violent upheavals to initiate ANY change.
Earlier in this thread I referenced “Us vs. Them”. We both agree that the chasms we are witnessing are NOT GOOD AT ALL. While we vastly differ on each other’s point of view, we do both realize that the middle ground is disappearing farther from the Horizon.
God Bless America and EVERYONE in it.

[Bentley]

If we would of had the trans continental railway it would have be the forty-eighters!

I don't know how many have or might.  The 48ers 49ers players...

"The California Gold Rush was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California."