A former NFL player and supporter of President Trump running for Congress in Utah said the NFL is wrong to show tolerance for Colin Kaepernick and his social justice activism.
“We have too many Americans now accepting the notion that the flag should be a place where people should be ashamed of or take a knee, that’s what it comes down to,” Burgess Owens, who played for the New York Jets in the 1970s, told Sports Illustrated.
Owens, an African American and critic of the Black Lives Matter movement, called Kaepernick a communist.
“We’re willing to have the distraction of a Marxist, a Castro, brother-loving Marxist to come back and play that many Americans don’t want to see him play,” Owens said.
The former safety was referring to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s recent statements voicing support for Kaepernick’s national anthem protests and the Black Lives Matter movement in general.
“Well, listen, if he wants to resume his career in the NFL, then obviously, it’s going to take a team to make that decision,” Goodell told ESPN this month. “But I welcome that, support a club making that decision, and encourage them to do that.”
Kaepernick, 32, has not played in the NFL since 2016 when his protests sparked a nationwide conversation about patriotism and police brutality in America.
“If his efforts are not on the field but continuing to work in this space, we welcome him to that table and to help us, guide us, help us make better decisions about the kinds of things that need to be done in the communities,” Goodell said. “We have invited him in before, and we want to make sure that everybody’s welcome at that table and trying to help us deal with some very complex, difficult issues that have been around for a long time.”
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees garnered backlash from social justice activists and some media pundits after saying he did not support protests before games. He and his wife later apologized after the family received death threats following his comments.
“I wish I would have laid out what was on my heart in regards to the George Floyd murder, Ahmaud Arbery, the years and years of social injustice, police brutality, and the need for so much reform and change in regards to legislation and so many other things to bring equality to our black communities,” Brees said. “I am sorry. And I will do better. And I will be part of the solution. And I am your ally. And I know no words will do that justice.”
Owens said he is disheartened to see professional athletes taking part in what he described as a vilification of America.
“I am disappointed that so many people are acquiescing today. They don’t understand the American way; they don’t understand the price paid,” Owens said. “They need to understand that we can’t be bullied and [also] that we’re not an evil country. There is no other country in the world with the mixing of races and tolerance. We have to change the current narrative.”
In a video interview with the Washington Examiner earlier this year, Owens said he stands for the national anthem because it stands for him.
“My message to Colin Kaepernick is learn your history,” he said. “Karl Marx says something very simply back in the 1800s, and that’s showing itself true today, and that’s the first battleground is the rewriting of history. [The flag] represents everything that we as Americans want to have.”
