NFL Chief Roger Goodell, Desperately Seeking Redemption From Black Lives Matter Activists

6 min readJan 9, 2021

Extract From Book #Take A Knee A Collection of Essays Influenced By The Political Awakening of Colin Kaepernick By Delroy Constantine-Simms

On August 24th/ 25th and Roger Goodell’ appeared on “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man,” a video series produced by former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho. In the interview, Acho asked Goodell what he would say in a public apology to Colin Kaepernick, the former Wolf Pack star[3] who fought police brutality and systemic racism during the 2016 season by kneeling during the national anthem. “The first thing I would say is, ‘I wish we had listening earlier to Kap and what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to,’” Goodell said. “We had invited him in several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue. I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did. And we would’ve benefited from that, absolutely.” Even during Goodell’ rather insincere public apology, he appears to indirectly apportion blame on Kaepernick for seemingly not meeting with the NFL. What Goodell fails to mention is that at the peak of the protest Kaepernick was not invited to any of the initial appeasement meetings. When Kaepernick did agree to a meeting, it was Goodell, who called off the meeting, because he refused to accept Kaepernick’s request to have a mediator present.

While peacefully protesting, Kaepernick made his message loud and clear. He wasn’t anti-America. This wasn’t a message against the military. It was a peaceful protest against police Brutality in the United States’. He wanted America to be better, to live up to its ideals, to stomp out racism weaved into our fabric and punish police officers who killed unarmed Black men. It was a message Goodell and the NFL tried to distort. Goodell did not support Kaepernick when the 49ers quarterback could have used it. Neither did he take the difficult and unpopular stand against fans who were upset and or President Trump who railed against his league for the purpose of scoring political points. No, Goodell turned his back on Kaepernick in his moment of need. He dismissed the fact that Kaepernick went unsigned after 2016, saying if he was good enough to help a team he would be signed. Furthermore, In 2018, Goodell’s league approved a measure that banned on-field kneeling during the anthem. Even ln November 2019 when the NFL set up a sham workout for Kaepernick, they deviously tried to get him to sign an unusual liability waiver that addressed employment-related issues beyond injury.

At every turn, Goodell failed to support or listen to Kaepernick’s message — until June when he released a video stating “Black Live Matters,” but only after some of the NFL’s biggest stars backed him into that corner . And only after the murder of George Floyd turned supporting Black rights into a winning cause publicly with Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams and celebrities across the globe feeling

like it was OK to acknowledge systemic racism exists. Without doubt, Goodell’s message only changed when it was publicly acceptable and comfortable to do so, not before, hence well-deserved accusations of hypocrisy by NFL player Eric Reid. During the interview with Acho, Goodell was asked what he knew about the peaceful protests during the anthem, he said that he wished he knew in 2016.”Just what was going on in the communities,” Goodell said. “I didn’t know what was going on in the communities. Let’s be honest, did Goodell really expect listeners to really believe that he had no idea of what was going on in Black communities in 2016? Trayvon Martin was murdered in 2012 Michael Brown in 2014. Eric Garner in 2014. Tamir Rice in 2014. Laquan McDonald in 2014, Sandra Bland and Walter Scott[ in 2015. Philando Castile in 2016. Alton Sterling in 2016. These were all high-profile events, therefore his plea of ignorance regarding institutional racism and police brutality fools no one.

During the interview, Goodell proudly said he grew up in the 1960s. Civil rights protests were frequent, yet he claims not to have seen them, given his privileged upbringing and age his claims could be true, but given that his father, Charles Goodell, was a U.S. Senator who marched the streets in protest against the Vietnam War and Roger Goodell attended an elite liberal arts college, claiming to have no idea about systemic racism or police brutality is far from convincing, especially for the commissioner of a league whose players are 70 percent Black. Let’s be honest, Goodell has no genuine intention or desire to apologize to Kaepernick. His interviews and video press releases are nothing more than a public relations ploy from commissioner that all about “ protecting the shield,” which Goodell has said is his job as the league’s commissioner. So far, he has been true to his word, by initially turning his back on Kaepernick, as well as Black NFL fans. Hence the assertion that Goodell and the NFL should not be allowed to change the historical narrative, simply because It’s fashionable and convenient, to so. In his interview with Emmanuel Acho, Goodell he claims that he wished the NFL ‘had listened earlier’ to Colin Kaepernick “It’s not about the flag.”

“The message here and what our players are doing is being mischaracterized. These are not people who are unpatriotic. They’re not disloyal. They’re not against our military. In fact, many of those guys were in the military, and they’re military family. What they were trying to do is exercise their right to bring attention to something that needs to get fixed. And that misrepresentation of who they were and what they were doing was the thing that really gnawed at me.”

Clearly it didn’t gnaw him enough in 2016 to stand up for Kaepernick, in fact he did the exact opposite. He and the NFL team owners chose to collude, vilify, and isolate Kaepernick from the sport on every level possible. No matter how much Goodell attempts to seek redemption, he will never find it, until he accepts that he was complicit in ruining Colin Kaepernick’s career and apologize accordingly. Until then, Roger Goodell should not be afforded the opportunity to rewrite history, he deserves to remain on the wrong side of history along with all the organizations and commentators that vilified Colin Kaepernick for simply exercising his first amendment right to peaceful protest.

Extract from book

Title# Take A Knee: A Collection of Essays Influenced By The Political Awakening of Colin Kaepernick

Delroy Constantine-Simms

Publisher: Think Doctor Publications, 2020

ISBN 1640070117, 9781640070110

Length 1178 pages

References:

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljgkEcc4B1k 2020

[2] https://www.nfl.com/videos/emmanuel-acho-discusses-his-conversation-with-roger-goodell

[3] https://www.rgj.com/story/sports/2020/07/30/former-wolf-pack-star-colin-kaepernick-honored-rfk-human-rights-award/5548561002/

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2017/10/17/colin-kaepernick-was-asked-by-players-to-attend-tuesdays-meeting-with-nfl-owners/

[5] https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/06/roger-goodell-still-owes-colin-kaepernick-an-apology.html