As a Veteran of the US Navy - Saints, and Non-Saints (1 Viewer)

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Who said he was racist? I've heard many people say insensitive and ignorant, but not racist. I think his opinion on the matter is flawed, because i think we can respect that an anthem is a sacred time for some but not others based on the color of their skin, and we could all benefit from understanding that reality. We should never make any sort of salute a litmus test, and I feel that those who get very offended at people peacefully protest during it have emotional ties that supersede realistic ones.
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that his comments are insensitive and ignorant. I will agree. My question to you is he being treated like someone who was insensitive or ignorant, or someone who is a true racist? It is my impression that Drew is not far from someone claiming that he created slavery in america. The punishment does not fit the "crime" in this case. So, for you to say that nobody is saying he is racist, you are incorrect. By means of how he is being portrayed, he is being accused of something much worse.

This is mis-directed hatred.
 
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that his comments are insensitive and ignorant. I will agree. My question to you is he being treated like someone who was insensitive or ignorant, or someone who is a true racist? It is my impression that Drew is not far from someone claiming that he created slavery in america.

I truly have no clue what you're talking about. If you're just saying that you feel that the response to his questions was equivalent to this, then I think I'd easily disagree. Nobody that I know of on social media, in the NFL, etc. claimed that Drew Brees was racist.

The punishment does not fit the "crime" in this case. So, for you to say that nobody is saying he is racist, you are incorrect.

No, I believe that if nobody has called him racist, then it is true that nobody is saying he is a racist.

So you would be the one who is incorrect.

By means of how he is being portrayed, he is being accused of something much worse.
This is mis-directed hatred.

Which is what you inferred as an individual. Views on that differ.

I didn't get the vibe that people were accusing him of 'something much worse'.
 
I see Drew's comments regarding the flag more as being the SYMBOL for the IDEALS which his grandfathers fought for. The IDEALS that this nation was founded on: ALL men (and women) are created equally. ALL of us have the right to pursue happiness, etc. etc.

It took the nation FAR too long to recognize the fact that people of color fall into that same category, and there are those that still hold on to old notions regarding "separate but equal", and other such nonsense...

Drew has done more for the people of New Orleans, and for the players in the NFL as both a philanthropist and as the face of the player's association than ANYONE in recent memory. Not once has he made a proviso that the changes he affected were for the benefit of this group but not that one. All were equal. I think his ACTIONS have proven that recent verbal missteps were just that.

I think he's earned the benefit of our doubt.
 
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I just don't understand why people are getting up in arms over peoples opinions. Everyone has an opinion. Most just keep it to themselves. Drew spoke out,and put his fooot in his mouth. He is not a racist. He just mispoke.
 
Maybe I shouldn't make a thread on this, but I don't want to reply to every thread on this subject. However, I have something to say. I served my Country in the US Navy for 6 years, and received an honorable Dishcharge for my service. I served to provide rights for everyone. Constitutional rights. We have a right to freedom of speech. This is for everyone, including for messages we don't like, such as the Nazi Party and so on. I don't condone hate messages like theirs, or anyone elses, but they do have the right to speak their minds on a subject.

Drew said something that a lot of people didn't agree with - including me - but, he had the right to say it. What he should have said was that according to his opinion......if he had done this, I don't think this would have gotten so blown up. Instead, it sounded like it was a wrong action to stand up - in the way you chose to do it - for what you believe in. KK is another who was let down in this way. He has basically been black balled from the NFL because of his freedom to speak his mind in a peaceful protest of kneeling during the National Anthem.

Now, here's the deal. Many people use the saying that when someone does this, it's because people are disrespecting the Veterans of the Military who have faithfully served their country. At first, I kinda took it that way myself. Then, all the publized killings began to happen, and I began to understand why people were protesting. It made me begin to look at their point of view in a different light.

Now, Drew has "stuck his foot in his mouth." However, I believe it's because of the way he worded his response. I don't think that he had it in for anyone, or their beliefs, or right to protest. If he had simply worded his response in a more sympathetic way, most of this backlash could have been avoided.

This country needs to be healed, and that could begin by more and more people banding together to try to fix the system. It's very obvious that there is a problem. Problems are meant to be solved. Instead of advancing the problem and "crucifying" Drew for his mis-worded response, everyone should accept his apology and move on. Everyone who knows Drew should know that he is no racist. He made a mistake, but it's fixable.

I don't really take offense if someone kneels during the anthem. I do take offense when forgiveness can't be accepted when asked for.

This recent "murder" of George Floyd was simply that - murder! I truly believe that if that had been a dog or a cat, the out cry would have been much more harsh. Maybe that's a perspective, but people take more offense over mistreatment of animals sometimes than they do of people. George Floyd was brutally murdered. But, I take more offense that it's taken all this time to arrest, and charge these so-called police officers for their crimes, than for a protest (peaceful).

Maybe this is just me, and how I feel. But, I felt I needed to express it.
Innocent life, including animals and children will always take precedent. That's why people back animals.
 
Vet here as well (1969-71, SGT, US Army). My father, God rest his soul, volunteered to join the Army on December 8, 1941, the day after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, wherein 19,000 US soldiers were killed and another 70,000 were wounded in a battle that spanned one month, one week and two days. My father survived but spent the next year in a VA Hospital suffering from "shell shock", which we now call PTSD. So, patriotism runs deep in my family.

What Kaep started four years ago was disrespectful to our flag but his protest was for the greater good, which MANY more Americans now realize. It's time for change.
 
So I finally listened and I just decided I'm not going to be offended anymore by people kneeling. I'm really not. But I am always going to stand up, put my hand over my heart, and sing the Star Spangled Banner as loudly and as well as I can. That is how I was raised.
 
I'm a black veteran. I don't have a problem with anything that Brees said and it definitely was not racist. Brees was a victim of bad timing -- that is all. Obviously if he had to do it over again he would have chose his words differently. He should have responded, "I don't have a problem with NFL players protesting." ..... and left it at that.
 
I'm a black veteran. I don't have a problem with anything that Brees said and it definitely was not racist. Brees was a victim of bad timing -- that is all. Obviously if he had to do it over again he would have chose his words differently. He should have responded, "I don't have a problem with NFL players protesting." ..... and left it at that.

And hence lies the problem. I am also a vet. (1993-1998) Desert Storm 1. Drew is almost a politician at heart with the wY he speaks sometimes. Very Neutral, not really offending anyone with what he says. But you CANNOT be Neutral about this. You MUST pick a side, because being silent about this issue makes you just as complicit . Martin Luther King jr. said; " In the end we will Not remember the words of our enemies, but the SILENCE of our Friends ".

We CANNOT continue to play these Moral gymnastic games about disrespecting the flag. As you can see just in this thread alone, African Americans Also served this country , also Died for this country, we deserve the same IDEALS this country strives to be.

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!!!!
 
And hence lies the problem. I am also a vet. (1993-1998) Desert Storm 1. Drew is almost a politician at heart with the wY he speaks sometimes. Very Neutral, not really offending anyone with what he says. But you CANNOT be Neutral about this. You MUST pick a side, because being silent about this issue makes you just as complicit . Martin Luther King jr. said; " In the end we will Not remember the words of our enemies, but the SILENCE of our Friends ".

We CANNOT continue to play these Moral gymnastic games about disrespecting the flag. As you can see just in this thread alone, African Americans Also served this country , also Died for this country, we deserve the same IDEALS this country strives to be.
Crawfish didn't say he should have been silent, he said he should have phrased his words differently. Nobody is being silent about this.
 
I served too.

I'm disgusted by what happened to George Floyd. My heart is bleeding.
 
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And hence lies the problem. I am also a vet. (1993-1998) Desert Storm 1. Drew is almost a politician at heart with the wY he speaks sometimes. Very Neutral, not really offending anyone with what he says. But you CANNOT be Neutral about this. You MUST pick a side, because being silent about this issue makes you just as complicit . Martin Luther King jr. said; " In the end we will Not remember the words of our enemies, but the SILENCE of our Friends ".

We CANNOT continue to play these Moral gymnastic games about disrespecting the flag. As you can see just in this thread alone, African Americans Also served this country , also Died for this country, we deserve the same IDEALS this country strives to be.

BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!!!!
Cool out Malcolm :cool:
 
Maybe I shouldn't make a thread on this, but I don't want to reply to every thread on this subject. However, I have something to say. I served my Country in the US Navy for 6 years, and received an honorable Dishcharge for my service. I served to provide rights for everyone. Constitutional rights. We have a right to freedom of speech. This is for everyone, including for messages we don't like, such as the Nazi Party and so on. I don't condone hate messages like theirs, or anyone elses, but they do have the right to speak their minds on a subject.

Drew said something that a lot of people didn't agree with - including me - but, he had the right to say it. What he should have said was that according to his opinion......if he had done this, I don't think this would have gotten so blown up. Instead, it sounded like it was a wrong action to stand up - in the way you chose to do it - for what you believe in. KK is another who was let down in this way. He has basically been black balled from the NFL because of his freedom to speak his mind in a peaceful protest of kneeling during the National Anthem.

Now, here's the deal. Many people use the saying that when someone does this, it's because people are disrespecting the Veterans of the Military who have faithfully served their country. At first, I kinda took it that way myself. Then, all the publized killings began to happen, and I began to understand why people were protesting. It made me begin to look at their point of view in a different light.

Now, Drew has "stuck his foot in his mouth." However, I believe it's because of the way he worded his response. I don't think that he had it in for anyone, or their beliefs, or right to protest. If he had simply worded his response in a more sympathetic way, most of this backlash could have been avoided.

This country needs to be healed, and that could begin by more and more people banding together to try to fix the system. It's very obvious that there is a problem. Problems are meant to be solved. Instead of advancing the problem and "crucifying" Drew for his mis-worded response, everyone should accept his apology and move on. Everyone who knows Drew should know that he is no racist. He made a mistake, but it's fixable.

I don't really take offense if someone kneels during the anthem. I do take offense when forgiveness can't be accepted when asked for.

This recent "murder" of George Floyd was simply that - murder! I truly believe that if that had been a dog or a cat, the out cry would have been much more harsh. Maybe that's a perspective, but people take more offense over mistreatment of animals sometimes than they do of people. George Floyd was brutally murdered. But, I take more offense that it's taken all this time to arrest, and charge these so-called police officers for their crimes, than for a protest (peaceful).

Maybe this is just me, and how I feel. But, I felt I needed to express it.

Over 30 year military member and life long Saints fan here.

I also never had an issue with Kaep taking a knee. He coordinated his protest with another NFL player and also military vet in Nate Boyer.

Life is about perspective and as a middle aged white male i have to and have grown to understand that all of my life experiences and challenges pale in comparison to the majority of people in the black communities.

I want everyone here to think about or just ponder something for a second. We have thousands of African American troops serving this nation in our very state. They serve on military installations named Jackson Barracks, Camp Beauregard, and Ft Polk. Just think about this, do some research, educate yourself, open your heart/mind and listen. I can only imagine how my fellow African American troops feel when they pull up at Jackson Barracks knowing that it’s named after a slave owning confederate supporter. Just ponder that for a moment. Why do many people continue to look at these confederate generals as heroes or as the civil war was merely a fight for states to make their own rules when we conveniently omit that the main rule that the Southern states wanted to maintain was the rules that allowed them to own other humans as slaves.

We as a nation have done many great things but the fair and equitable treatment of minorities does have a whole lot of room for improvement. I’ve read plenty of heart felt letters and memos over the past week from brave military leaders both white (General Goldfein) and black (Chief Wright). The highest ranking military General and enlisted people in the Air Force and if each of them can speak their heart and open their hearts and minds as human beings then we all have the obligation to do the same and realize that we MUST philosophically change our launch point on where we in fact stand in regards to race in this country.

Why is it that difficult to understand that while some people champion the US Flag as a symbol of sacrifice, courage, and freedom that to many others those same symbols represent a nation divided by hidden bias and inequitable systems in the United States.
 
I really dont believe kappernick is "black balled." The NFL let Greg freaking Hardy back in the league after what he did. If a GM thought Kappernick gave them the best option at QB to win, he'd be on a team right now.
 
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