Fleischer said the kneelers could be an especially potent campaign issue for a Republican able to find a Democratic opponent who voiced support for them. He also said that a campaign commercial highlighting Alejandro Villanueva—the offensive lineman who, before a game last season, was the only member of the Pittsburgh Steelers to walk out of the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem (his teammates remained just inside the tunnel)—could be more effective than any attacks. “It’s more of an uplifting message,” he said.
For some historical context, I called Jonathan Eig, the author of
Ali: A Life, a
biography of the boxer published last year. Eig told me there were plenty of politicians who spoke out against Ali, the most outspoken political athlete of the 20th century, after he refused deployment to the Vietnam War. “Ali will fight anyone but the Vietcong,” Illinois Congressman Robert H. Michel once said. And when Governor Ronald Reagan denied Ali a California boxing license in 1970, he quipped, “That draft dodger will never fight in my state.” (Ali later endorsed Reagan for president.) Eig noted, though, that the stakes were different with Ali. “There were real political consequences, like more conscientious objectors to the war,” he said. “With Kaepernick, there’s no real political issue. It’s just pandering to your base.”
Howard Bryant, a senior writer for ESPN and the author of a new
book,
The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, went further. “This is no different than Willie Horton,” he said. “It’s the soft on crime message. Before, they used felons to get out the vote; now they use ballplayers.”
When I asked Black about the racial undertones Bryant noted, she didn’t address the question directly, but reiterated how personal the issue was to her. “I just don’t believe that’s the venue,” she said of the protests. “I’m paying to be entertained. I’m not paying to be affronted. Unless you’ve had a husband or a son or someone in the military where you lay awake at night knowing they’re in harm’s way, I don’t think they can understand.”
Recently, the
New York Times published an audio recording of a
meetingbetween NFL players and owners at the height of the controversy last year. The league’s fear of Trump was painfully obvious. “The problem we have is, we have a president who will use [the kneeling] as fodder to do his mission,” said New England Patriots owner—and Trump friend—Robert Kraft. While pressing the players to abandon the protests, owners pledged $100 million to social justice causes. The kneeling tapered off; by the end of the season, the protests were an afterthought.
With the new season three months away—and Kaepernick and Reid jobless—it is difficult to imagine the players returning to their protest. But Black told me she could see the protests coming up in a debate in Nashville. “I have very patriotic constituents,” she said. Added Morgan, “There’s no doubt Republicans are still pissed off about it.”
