Piece by: Trey Stanford
When you love the game of football, its easy to make the sport synonymous with Brett Favre. Especially those of us who loved watching the game in the 90’s (outside of the Chicago area code). The name of Favre (was) as sacred in the State of Mississippi as Manning for his contribution to the sport. I preface this knowing that what I am about to say is going to hurt. Favre will probably never see this, but I hope many of his fans will, so here it goes…
Farve’s latest comments on the state of the NFL in terms of politics displayed by the players are out of touch, misguided, and worst of all disappointing. Brett, you’ve gone on to say that “It’s a shame” that players are kneeling for the anthem and that the flag should be something that unifies us. In theory, that is a nice thought. The U.S. flag should be a symbol of justice and equity among all of us who come to this country and live here. What many people fail to realize that it has rarely, if ever, lived up to that expectation of equal justice. Especially when it comes to how African-Americans are treated by law enforcement. You bring up that ‘blacks, whites, and Hispanics’ have all fought and died for this country’ without any kind of awareness of your privilege. While the statement is factually true, the narrative behind it is misguided. African-American and Latinx people who fought for this country did not always come back to a country that loved and valued them the way they deserved. Look at what happened in Minnesota!
A black man in uniform, let me say that again, HE WAS IN FUCKING UNIFORM, when he was pulled over and harassed by law enforcement. 13 miles away, George Floyd was murdered by police and not too far from that so was Daunte Wright. And Brett… you have the audacity to sit there and tell us how kneeling is ‘disrespectful’ to the troops, but when one of them is harassed by police? You’ve got nothing to say about that do you? So don’t you dare stand there and tell me this is about ‘patriotism’. You bitch and moan about woke athletes using their platform then turn around and whine about how ‘lopsided’ it is when you face backlash for supporting extreme right-wing views.
You ask ‘Whatever happened to […] your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs being yours and not wrong?’ I am sorry Brett, you lost any kind of credibility when you backed a guy who constantly attacked NFL players for expressing their views, some of which cost them their careers! While you sit comfortably in a house provided by the opportunities that the NFL afforded you. I am sorry if the current situation is inconvenient to you and several others, but until law enforcement is held accountable for their blatant racism, this is going to continue. It should make you feel uncomfortable, because Brett, real change doesn’t happen in a zoom interview with douchebags like Eric Bolling. This is just a thought, if you fucking love the game like you say you do, listen to what both current and former players are saying! Have a heart to heart talk like Drew Brees did with Malcom Butler. Otherwise, take your pseudo-patriotism elsewhere. It’s not helping the players and its damn sure not helping you look like anything else but a relic of a bygone era.