Tuesday, December 02, 2014

COPS INFURIATED BY ST. LOUIS RAMS HANDS-UP PROTEST

St. Louis police officers demand that five Rams football players be punished for their hands-up protest

As they entered the playing field before the start of the St. Louis Rams-Oakland Raiders game, five black Rams players stopped to make the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" stance, the symbol of the Ferguson protests.

The head of the St. Louis Police Officers Association sent a strong statement to the National Football league demanding that the five players be punished and that the NFL apologize for their actions. Here is part of that SLPOA statement:

The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory,

Now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson's account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eyewitness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.

I'd remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertisers' products. It's cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play.

All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson.

As the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis' finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance.


I believe that cops all over the U.S. have good reasons to be infuriated by the protests of the five players. In effect, the "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" stance accuses all cops of shooting down people in the act of surrendering.

The five players have every right to participate in the Ferguson protests, but the football field is for playing the game, not for a demonstration of anger against the police. Their protest on the field was reminiscent of the disgraceful Black Power salute given by two black track stars during the medal award ceremony at the 1968 summer Olympics in Mexico in which they each raised a black-gloved fist during the playing of our national anthem.

The Rams claim they were not aware that the players planned to protest. In this politically and racially charged atmosphere, don’t look for an NFL apology or for the players to be punished.

UPDATE: It did not take long for the NFL to respond. Spokesman Brian McCarthy told Reuters that the NFL would not fine or suspend any of the protesting players. "We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation," he said.

And, of course, no apology was forthcoming from the no-balls NFL either. In other words, fuck the cops!

In view of that, it has been suggested that the cops should refuse to work at any future Rams games. But those cops at the games are moonlighting and getting paid by the NFL. While they may huff and puff about the player demonstration and the no-balls NFL’s refusal to punish the players or issue an apology, there’s no way those cops will give up that extra paycheck. And the St. Louis PD is not about to order their cops not to work those games. Even if the SLPD were to issue such an order, the St. Louis Police Officers Association would scream bloody murder. Money talks, bullshit walks!

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