According to the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. has recorded the highest homicide rate increase in modern history. One of the primary drivers for that spike is the demonization and defunding of police departments across the country.
And when it comes to the demonization of police, the NFL’s hands are dirty.
According to the CDC, the homicide rate for the U.S. rose 30 percent between 2019 and 2020, the highest jump in history. The previous high was the 20 percent hike seen from 2000 to 2001, but that was because of the horrendous terror attacks on the nation on Sept. 11.
“It is the largest increase in 100 years,” Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at NCHS, told CNN.
Despite the fact that that very few of these deaths occurred during encounters with police officers, the NFL and many of their players have contributed to the undermining of law and order by pushing negative characterizations of the police on TV and social media.
In 2014, for instance, members of the St. Louis Rams entered the Edward Jones Dome with their hands in the air to push the false claim that a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer shot down Michael Brown while he had his hands in the air and was yelling “don’t shoot.”
ST. LOUIS, MO – NOVEMBER 30: Tavon Austin #11, Jared Cook #89, Chris Givens #13 of the St. Louis Rams pay homage to Mike Brown by holding their hands up during their pre-game introduction against the Oakland Raiders at the Edward Jones Dome on November 30, 2014 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Rams beat the Raiders 52-0. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
This incident was fiction and never occurred, but it is a shibboleth of the leftist, anti-cop movement to this very day. Still, the St. Louis Police Officers Association blasted the team for pushing the lie.
In 2016, soon after he began protesting against the flag and the police during the playing of the national anthem, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick continued to push an anti-cop agenda by wearing socks that depicted police officers as pigs.
(John Hefti/USA Today Sports)
Other NFL players jumped in to display hate for America’s police that year, as well. In July of 2016, Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell, for instance, posted then deleted a gruesome drawing of a police officer on his knees and having his throat slit open.
In a direct action by the league itself, the NFL refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to wear a sticker on their helmets to honor the five police officers who were gunned down in July of 2016.
By 2020, the league seriously upped the ante by sponsoring a league-wide initiative to allow players to wear the names of people supposedly killed during police-involved encounters.
The “Say Their Name” campaign allowed dozens of players to replace their own names on helmets with the names of people killed by police officers. Indianapolis Colts linebacker Mathew Adams wore the name of Dreasjon Reed, a man with a long criminal history who was killed in May of 2020 during a shootout with the police.
As Breitbart Sports reports:
While it’s unclear who shot first, Reed clearly fired at the police. Investigators found two shell casings from Reed’s weapon and 13 casings from the weapon of the pursuing officer. Video from Reed’s phone shows shell casings flying in two different directions.
“Almost exactly at the same time, two, we know two shots were fired. That can’t happen unless two different shooters are shooting,” said Indiana State Police Lt. Jeff Herron explained.
The investigation also found that the shooting began after the pursuing officer tased Reed.
“He actually tases him at the same time Mr. Reed is actually starting to pull his firearm out,” Herron said.
“Mr. Reed basically goes down on his stomach and then he turns, basically in that same position onto his, basically onto his buttocks and he follows and it appears he follows Officer Mercer as he’s moving,” Herron concluded.
The officer involved in the shooting sued the NFL for their characterization of the events.
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