Whether or not you’re a fan of the NFL, you’ve probably heard about the NFL protests. However, many people don’t understand the reasoning behind the protests. NFL players and many others have joined together to protest police brutality. Here’s a closer look at police brutality statistics and how the protests are an effort to change things.
Police Brutality Statistics
Before you can understand the NFL protests, you need to understand the issue. Police brutality is a problem that people have been speaking up about for years. It’s always been an issue. However, in recent years the problem has become more serious. For the past two years, the police killed at least 1000 people each year. Despite making efforts to change things, this year appears to be following that trend. In the first six months of 2017, police killed 492 people. There has been a decrease in the number of unarmed deaths, but the statistics are still alarming.
In New York City, there has been a history of police brutality. In 2012, there were 5,601 complaints about police wrongdoing in the city.
Where does race come into play?
Although protests are about police brutality, there’s also the issue of racism. In many of the incidents that involve mistreatment, the victims are black. One Washington Post report showed that police are three times more likely to kill blacks than whites or other minorities. Many of the victims of police shootings are African American. In fact, 40% of the unarmed people shot and killed by police at a given time were black men. However, black men only make up 6% of the US population. The statistics don’t add up.
When you discuss the issue of the citizen mistreatment by police, it’s impossible to ignore the question of race. The mistreatment more often involves African Americans, and this hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Too many incidents
There’s no single incident that you can hold accountable for the protests. Instead, it was a string of incidents that made people more vocal about police brutality. In the past few years, there have been several high-profile incidents where police killed people. And in some of those situations, the victims were innocent. There’s the Tamir Rice incident, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, and more. In most of the shootings, the victims were African American. Some of the police officers involved never even went to trial for their crimes. Others went to trial and had an acquittal.
The Protests
You can’t talk about protests against police brutality without talking about Colin Kaepernick. After all, he is the one that initiated the NFL protests. It started back in 2016. The San Francisco 49ers player sat down during the National Anthem before a game. Although no one noticed at first, people eventually noticed. When they did, fans showed outrage. They believed that Kaepernick was being disrespectful to the country and unpatriotic.
However, Kaepernick had other motives. In interviews, he revealed that his actions were an effort to stop police brutality against black individuals. In light of the many police shootings of innocent black people, Kaepernick felt a need to speak up. His peaceful protest ignited debates about the issue. While some people disagreed with his actions, others realized that brutality was plaguing the country.
At first, the NFL and most of the fans didn’t show much support for Kaepernick. But that changed when Donald Trump made some controversial remarks about NFL owners responding to protests. His comments made it clear that the country’s leadership was not acknowledging the issue of police brutality against black people. In response, many professional athletes followed in Kaepernick’s footsteps. First, an MLB player knelt during the anthem. Then, NFL teams started protest together. At times, the team owner’s stood with them in support.
Patriotism vs Change
Some argue that kneeling during the national is unpatriotic. However, others acknowledge that it’s a form of peaceful protest. Arguments came to a head when Villanueva stood alone during the national anthem. While all of his teammates refused to honor the anthem, he saluted the flag alone. Throughout the US, people argued about his actions. Some people recognized him as a patriot, while others saw him as an obstacle in the fight for equality. At the time, Villanueva did not realize the implications of his action. He later tweeted that he feels embarrassed when he sees the picture of him saluting alone. Additionally, he said that he did not mean to throw his teammates under the bus.
Change is on its way. Since earlier fatalities, the police have made efforts to limit shootings and deaths. However, change isn’t easy. Many people still argue that there is no racism in this country. Taking things one step further, some people even argue that police brutality is not a problem. However, the statistics say otherwise. It’s likely that protests will continue until people start seeing a change in the harrowing statistics. Until then, you may need a lawyer to help defend you from injustice.
