On Fox Sports’ Undisputed, co-host Skip Bayless offered his own solution to the inability of national anthem-protesting quarterback Colin Kaepernick to get a job in the NFL.
Bayless intoned, “If the black players would unite, and say, ‘We will not play Game 1 this year,’ I promise you, it would have an impact and would get something done.”
Last week, Bayless and his co-host Shannon Sharpe discussed the issue; Bayless concluded regarding Kaepernick, “Most white people deep down know he’s right.” The exchange went like this;
Sharpe: But if it’s a cause that we don’t like, Skip, so what does that tell ‘em; we’re not gonna like the person that’s fighting for that cause. Skip, if I don’t like an actor, I’m not going to see any movies that actor is in; I don’t care what grade they give it. And that’s how they look at Colin Kaepernick; forget the cause.
Bayless: True; that’s a good analogy. That is true. In the end, they can’t get past “he disrespected the flag.”
Sharpe: Yes. That’s their hang-up Skip. Yeah it might be a worthy cause; deep down I think they know it’s a worthy cause.
Bayless: You know what? I can’t say. I’m playing armchair shrink here; I think most people, most white people, deep down they know he’s right. Deep down they know that Colin Kaepernick stood for something he should have stood for, and that he had national impact that needed to be had at that moment. He created dialogue; he opened eyes and ears to a growing conflict between white policemen and unarmed black men and women that needed to be addressed. And I would like to believe, I can’t prove this, I believe it had positive impact. It made a lot of police forces more aware of, “Man we’ve got internal issues going on here, right?”
Sharpe: Yeah, so to keep them from talking about the cause, “Oh, you disrespect the flag.” Well, I don’t care you disrespected the flag. What about all those guys who fought and lost their life fighting for that flag? But they’re fighting for the very freedom that Colin Kaepernick chose: the freedom of protest.
Bayless: But people can’t see that; they can’t get past it. I’m talkin’ mostly white people …