Religion & Spirituality
Dr. Anthony Weems Discusses Systemic Racism in the NFL. Dr. Weems is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Western Carolina University. He has dedicated his acadeic career to researching this topic in depth so that we can gain a greater understanding of how Racism and Prejudice impact the NFL today. Since 2016, Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem to protest systemic racism and police brutality, and the NFL has become a major focal point for race relations. With George Floyd's Murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, the NFL decided to publicly express support for the Black Lives Matter movement by commiting $250 million over a 10-year period to fund projects combating racism and supportig the battle against injustice. Part of its new approach relates to publicly supporting an end to racism by allowing players to affix decals to their helmets supporting BLM and to display slogans like "End Racism" and "It Takes All of Us" at the endzones during opening games this season. Is this enough on the part of the NFL when a significant number of the teams' owners publicly support President Trump and they have failed to champion the rights of Black Players who make up approximately two thirds of the League? Try to keep an open mind as we disucss these issues with the hope of gaining a greater awareness of the existence of systemic racism in the NFL.