Keith Strudler: Fighting For Justice

There is nothing particularly novel or unusual about a story of NFL athletes arguing and fighting on the field or off. It’s an aggressive game where very strong people are pitted against each other and have blunt tools of force to get their way. So we’d expect athletes to fight over an important play or a playoff game or maybe during training camp when people are trying to earn a roster spot. I might even expect some arguments to stem from the personal – people who played for rival universities, or maybe guys who trash talk too much. But what I’d expect less of in the NFL is the fight that happened last weekend between Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles. The scuffle started in pre-game and lasted both through the match and the post-game, where Reid referred to Jenkins as a “sell-out.” Which, for the record, had absolutely nothing to do with the game itself.

So, some context. Reid is one of the several players who have continued to kneel for the National Anthem to raise awareness around racial injustice.  He is strongly aligned with Colin Kaepernick, the effective leader of this movement, and has strongly advocated for Kaepernick to get back in the League. Jenkins is a co-founder of the new NFL Players Coalition, a group of players focused on social justice, including things like prison reform. A coalition of which Eric Reid was originally a member of. Until he wasn’t. That happened when the group finalized a partnership with the NFL to dedicate some $90 million towards programs fighting inequality. And also when the coalition decided requiring Kaepernick be brought back into the League is not one of their agenda items. That caused Reid and other, perhaps more progressive activists to go their own, more independent road. That’s why Reid referred to Malcolm Jenkins, the person who is leading social justice reform activism in the NFL, as a sell-out.

To be fair, there’s nothing particularly unique about this discord amongst activists. Whether it’s better to work within the system or outside of it. Some might say that’s the reason Donald Trump is in the White House instead of a candidate from a fractured Democratic Party. Such philosophical discord is part of most activist movements, from race to gender to socioeconomics to pretty much any place where people are treated unfairly.

But what’s interesting here isn’t that people are fighting over the hard road towards racial justice. What’s interesting is that it’s happening on the field of play. We’ve increasingly come to realize that today’s professional athletes are more politically engaged and increasingly empowered, particularly in sports like the NBA where top stars earn more than a small nation’s GDP. And we’ve also come to realize that this is no longer a case of athletes vs corporate institutions, when Nike decided to make Kaepernick and Serena Williams a cornerstone of a recent ad campaign. What’s interesting in this particular case is that athletes – particularly male, African-American athletes – are now debating the viability for change to happen in their current org chart, where inherently conservative management structures must by default limit the most activist of messages. The NFL has, to their credit, dedicated a significant chunk of money towards racial justice, and given players a significant seat at the table towards that ethos. But the NFL must continue to attract wide and broad audiences to their stadiums, TV broadcasts, buying jerseys, and so on. Some of those consumers are part of the Trump constituency that sees no harm in “nationalist” as a campaign slogan. So the NFL is less likely to accommodate Eric Reid, who wants the field to be place for political activism, than they will for Malcom Jenkins, who’s organization is far more mindful of the place of capitalism in the funding of social movements. That was the fight last week in the NFL. Not whether or not athletes can be activists, but how they can do it best.

I don’t have a particular side in this fight, and I’m certain historians and sociologists would have a must better perspective than I on how this might, or perhaps should progress. Fairly progressive but also cautious by nature, I tend to believe it’s usually better to work within the system than outside of it. We’ll see if Eric Reid and Malcolm Jenkins can agree on that.

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