Two-time Super Bowl winner Chris Long had some thoughts after the NFL decided to muzzle player protests.
Chris Long has never been afraid to speak his mind. While not the father of the national anthem protest movement, Long has been a vocal supporter of Colin Kaepernick and anyone else who decides to protest during the national anthem at an NFL game.
Long himself has taken part in these protests, and each time someone comes at him he has always an articulate response. That was on full display Wednesday when the NFL decided that it would begin penalizing players who took a knee during the national anthem — a movement started to bring the conversation about police brutality to the biggest stage in America.
The vote comes after a season of controversy in which Donald Trump used his stage as the leader of the free world to call for the firing of players who protested. The league responded by collectively flipping Trump the bird, but the motivation behind the league-wide protests was not what Kaepernick set out to achieve.
It also didn’t last. Whatever bond was shared when owners knelt with players was voted down on Wednesday.
Long reacted to the vote by calling it out as faux patriotism in the name of honoring the bottom line of billionaires.
When people started clapping at him in his mentions, Long stood his ground.
Keep, while helping to bring a Super Bowl to Philadelphia, Long played last season for free. He donated his entire salary to helping impoverished communities, literally putting his money where his mouth was.
It’s all but certain that the voting down of the players right to protest won’t be the end of it. History is going to remember which side of it certain people landed on. Players can and will protest during the national anthem, even if the folks that sign their checks would rather they not. There’s a bigger picture and it’s more meaningful than any financial bottom line.
There’s already hope. The San Francisco 49ers reportedly abstained from the vote and New York Jets chairman Christopher Johnson has come forward to say the team will pay any fines its players accrue from protesting during the anthem.