Take A Knee

[Jupiter]

I don't know what they're complaining about. Black American football players have more money than 99.99999% of people in the whole of human history. Being black in America worked out great for them, they don't know how lucky they are. If they hate America so much, why don't they go and live in some black African country, see how much they like it there.

[Pacman1903]

I don't know what they're complaining about. Black American football players have more money than 99.99999% of people in the whole of human history. Being black in America worked out great for them, they don't know how lucky they are. If they hate America so much, why don't they go and live in some black African country, see how much they like it there.

Aye how about they try and shine shoes on the streets of Luanda

Or break their bones so the heal deformed to get money on the streets.

Or how about they live off the equivalent of a dollar a day like a massive percentage of Angolans

How much is this boy made in his career?

Also his bird called the Baltimore Ravens owner who was trying to sign him a "slave owner". That's never going to help.

[Mason89]

Singing the national anthem before sporting events is just weird. Getting professional athletes to line up for a sing song before their work isn't right & the folk that join in are wrong 'uns

[InversneckieDob]

Aye how about they try and shine shoes on the streets of Luanda

Or break their bones so the heal deformed to get money on the streets.

Or how about they live off the equivalent of a dollar a day like a massive percentage of Angolans

How much is this boy made in his career?

Also his bird called the Baltimore Ravens owner who was trying to sign him a "slave owner". That's never going to help.

Bit close to "back where they game from" there Pac.

[Pacman1903]

Bit close to "back where they game from" there Pac.

How is it? That's nothing like what I said.

[Mason89]

I don't know what they're complaining about. Black American football players have more money than 99.99999% of people in the whole of human history. Being black in America worked out great for them, they don't know how lucky they are. If they hate America so much, why don't they go and live in some black African country, see how much they like it there.

Too obvious. Turn it down a notch & you might get a better result

[ragnarok]

The race issue in America is highly complex. In some ways more complex that it was 50 years ago. No question there's far less prejudice now but African Americans are, in material terms, worse off now than they were back then. But that's a whole other debate.

I don't think that race relations are served by polarising gestures by rich entertainers. I stopped watching the Academy Awards a long time ago but I definitely won't be tuning in after the farce of the last few years. Will Smith complaining about racism? Give me a break. The entertainment industry is one area in which AAs are disproportionately successful.

[Pacman1903]

The race issue in America is highly complex. In some ways more complex that it was 50 years ago. No question there's far less prejudice now but African Americans are, in material terms, worse off now than they were back then. But that's a whole other debate.

I don't think that race relations are served by polarising gestures by rich entertainers. I stopped watching the Academy Awards a long time ago but I definitely won't be tuning in after the farce of the last few years. Will Smith complaining about racism? Give me a break. The entertainment industry is one area in which AAs are disproportionately successful.

Is that the same will smith that not too long ago was the highest paid actor in the world?

[InversneckieDob]

The race issue in America is highly complex. In some ways more complex that it was 50 years ago. No question there's far less prejudice now but African Americans are, in material terms, worse off now than they were back then. But that's a whole other debate.

I don't think that race relations are served by polarising gestures by rich entertainers. I stopped watching the Academy Awards a long time ago but I definitely won't be tuning in after the farce of the last few years. Will Smith complaining about racism? Give me a break. The entertainment industry is one area in which AAs are disproportionately successful.

There's an argument that the higher profile guys should use the platform they have.

[ragnarok]

There's an argument that the higher profile guys should use the platform they have.

Fair point if you're using your platform to highlight some broader issue. Will Smith was upset that he wasn't nominated and then pretended that he was protesting some broader injustice.

At what point does it become ridiculous? The Academy falls over itself to display its progressive credentials. Is it necessary to include representatives from every conceivable minority? Surely the whole point is that candidates are selected based on merit (I'm pretty sure that's the dream that MLK had) not based on ticking some diversity checkbox to signal how progressive and inclusive you are to other people who think exactly the same way you do. I think the term is 'bigotry of low expectations'.

BLM is well meaning in part but also has a fair number of extremist nut jobs. They use understandable outrage over isolated cases to cast a net over the police force as a whole. Well I won't go into the statistics here but there are some fairly uncomfortable facts you need to confront if your view is that AA disadvantage is attributable purely to concepts such as 'structural racism' as BLM does.

Of course his window licking supporters lapped it up, but more broadly the sh!t has hit the fan.

You mean a sizeable chunk of the country, many of whom voted for Obama?

The fact is that the USA is becoming more racially divided and you can't put all of the blame on one side. Well you can, but that's only going to have one result in the long term.