Former New York Jets safety Burgess Owens recently slammed the NFL for looking to implement “affirmative action for a Marxist,” by encouraging teams to sign Colin Kaepernick.
As a member of the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick prominently started protesting against the country during the playing of the national anthem in 2016 but found himself left unsigned by any NFL team the following year when he turned free agent. Despite not playing since 2017, this year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has begun saying that the NFL needs to work with Kaepernick to guide the league’s spending on social justice issues.
On top of that, players, coaches, and owners are insisting that protests during the anthem are perfectly fine, and despite the last three seasons of bans, the protests will return once the league launches its 2020 season.
It is all too much for Burgess, who played for the Jets from 1973 to 1979, and then the Raiders until 1982. Owens says that if the protests are back, he is out. “If Goodell allows Kaepernick to come back, if they allow players to kneel during the national anthem, I’m willing to not watch the game,” he told Sports Illustrated.
The conservative Trump supporter slammed the whole idea of protesting during the national anthem.
“We have too many Americans now accepting the notion that the flag should be a place where people should be ashamed of or take a knee, that’s what it comes down to,” Owens said. “I am disappointed that so many people are acquiescing today. They don’t understand the American way; they don’t understand the price paid. They need to understand that we can’t be bullied and [also] that we’re not an evil country. There is no other country in the world with the mixing of races and tolerance. We have to change the current narrative.”
“If it was a meritocracy he would be out there anyway; he would work hard; he would prove himself,” Owens added. “He wouldn’t be taking someone else’s position. We’re looking at Affirmative Action for a Marxist. We’re approving their ideology.
“If we’re going that route, we should also ask Tim Tebow to come back,” Owens said. “It doesn’t matter how long he’s been out of the game. It doesn’t matter his talent. He was a Christian who kneeled in prayer and was a positive on his team. The reason why Tim Tebow, as talented as he was with the Denver Broncos — the NFL didn’t like his essence. They thought he was too distracting … too distracting to his team and the organization.”
Owens then noted that the NFL doesn’t mind some distractions.
“Meanwhile we’re willing to have the distraction of a Marxist, a Castro, brother-loving Marxist to come back and play that many Americans don’t want to see him play,” he insisted. “I just find it very disappointing. The NFL lost 15 percent of their audience last time, maybe a little bit more. The goal has been to increase their base, their revenue by going overseas to places like China, Mexico and England. They don’t care enough about their fans who love this country.”
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