NFL Hall of Famer and former San Francisco 49er Jerry Rice wants everyone to know that "All lives matter," and he's urging Colin Kaepernick to stand up like a good Negro and pledge allegiance to the flag before he causes trouble on the plantation.
All lives matter. So much going on in this world today.Can we all just get along! Colin,I respect your stance but don't disrespect the Flag.
— Jerry Rice (@JerryRice) August 30, 2016
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Myke Tavarres, rapper T.I., the NFL and most of black Twitter may be supporting Kaepernick's stance against standing for “The Star-Bangled Banner,” but Rice just wants us "all to get along." Maybe if police officers would stop gunning down 12-year-old black boys in the park or assaulting 15-year-old black girls trying to swim, we could give that a chance.
As previously reported by The Root, in 1995, former NBA player Mahmoud Abdul Rauf refused to participate in the “nationalistic ritualism” of recognizing the flag and singing the anthem. And in the last year of his life, baseball legend Jackie Robinson also said that he couldn't "stand and sing the anthem, nor salute the flag."
Why? Because Robinson realized that he was "a black man in a white world" full of injustice.
When Cam Newton faced what many NFL fans believed to be racial discrimination, Rice, arguably one of the greatest receivers of all time, said that the NFL was post-racial.
"I think the NFL is so much further now,” Rice said. “I don’t think race is a factor.”
Clearly, he still holds on to that ridiculous notion. The rest of black America will just keep on hoping we don't find ourselves on the business end of a cop's gun while walking, or driving, or standing, or …
Stick to shutting up, Rice—or dancing with the stars.