The racially tinged dog whistle from NFL team owner Bob McNair should come as no surprise for any observant person. The actions of the teams have spoken volumes over the decades.
Bob McNair claims he was not referring to players when he made his offensive statements which means he also undermines our intelligence.
James Brown statement on Bob McNair’s comments on NFL players
James Brown offers his thoughts on Bob McNair’s recent comments. pic.twitter.com/Q5A3nN1Ahh
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 29, 2017
According to CBS Sports,
For two days after the 24 owners and players convened, all the NFL owners met to discuss, among other things, what to do about sagging ratings, which was directly related to fans’ anger at the anthem protests.
On Day 2 of the meetings, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told his colleagues that they needed to seriously consider the impact the anthem issue was having on the league’s bottom line, and to some in the room Jones was building towards an mandate that would require players to stand during the anthem, similar to NBA’s rule.
According to Wickersham and Van Natta, as Jones made his case, Redskins owner Dan Snyder said, “See, Jones gets it — 96 percent of Americans are for guys standing,” a remark some dismissed as an overstatement. Texans owner and Trump supporter Bob McNair spoke next, and he had many of the same concerns as Jones.
“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair reportedly said, referring to the players.” …
After the owners had spoken, NFL executive and former NFL player Troy Vincent stood up. He was offended by McNair’s “inmates” comments. And according to Wickersham and Van Natta, “Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL — during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word — he never felt like an ‘inmate.'”
Later, McNair pulled Vincent aside to apologize — saying he felt horrible and this his words weren’t to be taken literally. Vincent reportedly appreciated McNair’s apology. And on Friday, hours after the story was published, McNair issued an apology through the Texans.
The offensive comment by the owner of the Houston Texans is another example of the Trump Effect. Bob McNair is a staunch Trump supporter and has fallen into the freedom trap where one can release their most deep-seated racism and prejudice, their true feelings. But one should not believe that this is solely a reflection on Bob McNair.
Dallas Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones after disingenuously kneeling with his players before the National Anthem decided to go all Trumpian and required his players to stand for the item. And of course, there is the owner of the Washington Redskins who refuses to change the offensive name of the team. One could go on and on. To these owners, that is just what they believe; they are owners of lesser human bodies.
Players are nothing but high priced slaves. They pay them well because their return on investment is maximized by keeping them happy and productive while playing. Mess with the bottom line, and the owners present the virtual whip. Misbehave too severely, and you get “traded.” Even the terminology is that of the slave trade.
One hopes that players will assert their real power. They could be the example American workers need to understand that the power is not in the hands of the few with capital that make them masters, but with the masses who absent their labor and intellect, make capital useless and owners of capital with little power.