The players are in a bad spot, and it’s entirely of their own making.
While Kaepernick was fairly clear about his protest, the other players have been ambiguous. There aren’t a lot of specifics and there isn’t a lot of clarity about the nature of their protest.
So we have a lot of ambiguity and fill in the blanks. After taking their strong moral stand, how can they back down now? How can they come into work next Sunday and stand for the anthem? Are the problems they raised solved? Have they been meaningfully addressed? They can’t say they raised awareness because they’re not clear about exactly what they were protesting.
Now, if they stand they look like idiots. If they remain kneeling, they alienate fans.
They didn’t think this through.
The thing is the problem isn’t even police brutality. There is no police brutality. There is a problem with crime, resisting arrest, provoking and assaulting officer