Unlike Sage Steele who used her platform at ESPN to rip Mike Evans for something totally different from what he was protesting about. Then follow that up by insulting and stereotyping every black person in America while asking for praise for her white mother and husband, Josina Anderson took a more intelligent approach to what is going on in America.
You can do that, when you don’t have a superiority complex and trying to run away from the fact that you are black.
Here is what Anderson had to say on her Facebook page.
As an American, and the journalist who Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans’ representative chose to issue his statement, I’m still troubled that Evans decided to cut short a silent protest—as I expressed on NFL Live this week. I understand his desire to no longer be a distraction to his team, but the right to protest peacefully is an important part of our democracy. As such, any questioning of hate-mongering anywhere—particularly on whether it exists around the highest office in America—ultimately shouldn’t be thwarted.
The dismissal of Evans’ protest due to his decision not to vote because it harkens back to the ancestral struggle for this right, or because Evans abstained in a swing state (which a friend of mine thought was irresponsible) is certainly comprehensible. Add to the fact that Evans chose to protest the President-elect by kneeling in the game last Sunday, during the pregame national anthem that was sung by the 82nd Airborne, had a military flyover and also included a halftime enlistment ceremony as well. So it is reasonable to feel Evans protest was also ill-timed.
However, Evans’ obvious failure not to exercise his vote for whatever reason (whether he mistakenly thought his preferred candidate would win convincingly based on media coverage, or he didn’t like any of the candidates), and the timing of his protest, still should not delegitimize nor mute the underlying concern.
As Evans already underlined and recognized, we all should have the utmost respect for the military who defend our precious freedoms, but those freedoms yet included Evans’ right to dissent, to make any personal sacrifice, or to incur any consequence for doing so.
Whether it is 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling at a game, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick writing a letter to a presidential candidate, Jets center Nick Mangold appearing at a political rally or Lions wide receiver Anquan Boldin speaking to Congress, these sports figures along with every citizen all share the right to peacefully add their voices to a cause, whether we agree or not.
Personally, I feel their individual actions contribute to healthy dialogue overall. Any commentary touting diversity of perspectives, should not take away from an even deeper examination of why sharp divisions are surfacing to this level in our country now, and the solutions we can all focus on to help unify us.
Empathy is bipartisan.
This isn’t hard, rational people know how to understand why someone may disagree with a protest or a political affiliation, but that doesn’t mean you have to tear them down, call them names, show hatred for your race or just be a terrible human being.
If only Anderson’s Facebook got as much national run as Steele’s ignorant comments, the world would truly be a better place.