Floyd, Kaepernick, Fromm, & Brees

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What do these four men have in common and what is uncommon between them?

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All four of them live(d) in the United States of America as legal citizens. That is one common denominator, but that is essentially where any similarities end other than genetics. What are the contrasts of these four men?

Three of the men play or have played in the NFL, one is no longer allowed to play in the NFL, and another was a fan of the NFL. Two are black men and two are white men, all from very different backgrounds inside the U.S. Three of the men are still living. Two of the men enjoy an extremely lavish lifestyle provided to them by their zip code births and family, the NFL, their respective team-owners, and brand-endorsements. One no longer has a career in the NFL and those rewards for simply going down to one knee during the imposed National Anthem before games to peacefully protest “police violence” on African-Americans and non-whites—a right provided by and protected by our U.S. Constitution and First Amendment for ALL U.S. citizens. One man was restrained by police officers and then suffocated to death by one officer, confirmed by two separate autopsies. The victim was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at a nearby market. Finally, two of these four men enjoy very different American lifestyles, legal protections and privileges under our laws and Constitution DESPITE the fact that all four men are/were legal U.S. citizens.

There must be another fact remembered here. According to our federal and state laws, all of us deserve equally certain and specific protections by these laws, even when “suspected” of a crime, before and during legal “Due Process” by our justice system. A popular catch-phrase for this is “innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.” Every single American citizen is provided these inalienable rights regardless of race, religion, color, creed, and sexual-orientation by the laws of the land, that is in theory. Economic or financial status SHOULD also be included and defined in these rights, but that’s another debate for another time and likely for a balanced, equitable U.S. Supreme Court.

Here is why I have gathered these four American men into a group. They currently represent citizens of the United States and the laws that are supposed to protect them. Perhaps I should have included Officer Derek Chauvin as well, but I chose not to in order to keep this post and topic somewhat brief and time-considerate. I will assume that most of my readers understand the purpose of American law-enforcement leading to arrests and probable cause (not sentencing!) for any police detainments and arrests, and followed by “due process” within our civil and criminal justice code and our U.S. Constitution.

  • George Floyd was suspected of passing counterfeit money. Did he deserve to die for this BEFORE getting legal representation in a court of law (due process)?
  • Colin Kaepernick was a star quarterback in the NFL who chose to peacefully protest police violence, a right provided to him by our U.S. Constitution. Yet, after his 2016 season and still incredibly talented, but released by the 49’ers, and then no other NFL team (31 other teams!) wanted to sign him, not even as a backup quarterback.
  • Jake Fromm is extremely outspoken about his personal religious beliefs giving him privileged success in football: “I want to represent Christ the best I can,” Fromm said. He later reemphasized his personal mission of proselytizing saying “I hope I can reach and influence as many people as possible. Let’s try to go and influence others, lead people to Jesus, and hopefully do the best we can with influencing them and hopefully shed a little light in their lives.” In 2019 during a Twitter conversation with a friend about gun-ownership Fromm tweeted “But no guns are good. They need to let me get suppressors,” then he added, “Just make them very expensive so only elite white people can get them haha.” Fromm has never experienced any trials or tribulations his entire life.
  • Drew Brees made comments during a June 3rd, 2020 Yahoo Finance interview about American symbols in the wake of protests over George Floyd’s murder and Kaepernick’s PEACEFUL protest against police violence. He said “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. […] I think what you do by standing there [upright on your feet] and showing respect for the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity.” Brees is also recorded as stating his top four priorities in life in order of most importance. They are 4) philanthropy via Christian organizations, 3) football, 2) family, and 1) faith in Jesus Christ as he interprets it. The only trials and tribulations Brees has ever faced in his entire life are football injuries or team adversities.

What are your thoughts about my grouping and their bullet-points? I am curious to know, from any perspective. If possible, include your thoughts about social-media or freedom of expression today on social-media and how it is properly or improperly used by celebrities.

Late addition:
An interview by ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter June 4th, 2020 is quite telling from a celebrity white-man’s perspective. Watch the entire 6-minute interview. It is very revealing what Dale Earnhardt, Jr., a popular American NASCAR driver—a sport dominated by the Old South or Confederate States, white culture, and most popular in the South—says about the murder of George Floyd, racism and police violence today in the U.S.

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Live Well — Love Much — Laugh Often — Learn Always

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54 thoughts on “Floyd, Kaepernick, Fromm, & Brees”

  1. The difference in the lives of people of color, especially black people, and especially black Muslims, and white Christians is really mind boggling. Wisconsin is one of the most prejudiced and segregated states in the country, Milwaukee is THE most segregated city in the country. Back in the 1990s I worked in Milwaukee and a friend of mine, a coworker, would get stopped for DWB (driving while black) at least three or four times a week. Always for some BS reason, if they gave him a reason at all. He was literally dragged out of his car at least three times, handcuffed and pushed face down on the street to lay there, under the suspicion of stealing his own car. I got stopped once because the company car I was driving had expired plates. It was all “excuse me, sir”, “sorry, sir”, and “no problem, sir, just take care of it as soon as you can”. If it had been him that had been stopped, he’d almost certainly have been cuffed, hauled in and thrown into a holding cell.

    When a black family moved into the town I live in, their teenaged sons were blamed, without cause, for every incident of vandalism and petty theft in town. When I hired their daughter to babysit our kids my neighbors went ballistic, claiming she or her brothers would strip my house bare of everything they could carry off. It was utterly ridiculous. They moved out after only a few months.

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    • DWB? Wow! Three or four times a week!? 😲

      Grouchy, I have a dear close friend who is black—he obtained his Master’s degree in Education at Penn State University and played football for Joe Paterno—a FANTASTIC guy, and he too has been stopped by police in Houston (where he grew up) and here in Dallas for ridiculous stupid reasons that I would NEVER get stopped for!

      I believe everything you say about your coworker. It all makes me very nauseated and upset that the United States of America CLAIMS to be the best nation in the world and a beacon of hope for freedom and liberty to the world, as symbolized by our Statue of Liberty in the Upper New York Bay, but it is all a farce, a lie when any non-whites actually get here and become naturalized. I don’t know why we even keep Lady Liberty up and erect because she represents NOTHING of what America is today. 😔

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      • Several years ago I got to know a black man at my (then) job fairly well. He was an executive and lived in a good neighborhood, since he could afford to. He told me the cops had stopped him there any number of times, sometimes within a block or two of his own house. And this was in Portland, which is relatively liberal. I’ve never been pulled over, not for looking “suspicious” or anything else.

        It does happen.

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        • Until I became real close friends with my Penn State buddy, now going on 21-years, I never really knew or understood Infidel. Why? As you rightly mention, I never was stopped unless I was breaking the speed limit by 15-20 MPH or not coming to a full stop at stop sign or running an “orange” light; not a red-light! 😉 😛

          My close buddy gets stopped several/many times per year. 😞

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  2. This reminds me of seeing Tom Brady, then QB of the New England Patriots, walking around the locker room after a playoff victory in 2016 with a MAGA hat on. I kept thinking to myself, “Tom, what has been SO awful for you in America that you NEED Trump to make it great again for you? Have you been denied one single fucking thing in your white-ass, Christian privileged life? Have you been stopped from going to church and praying to Jeebus? What EXACTLY has been SO awful in the US for you that only Trump can make it great again? And, Tom, whilst we’re on the subject, please explain to me what EXACTLY is SO ‘GREAT AGAIN’ about America since Herr Trump has become its dictator? Please, explain all this to me in exact detail.”

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    • Tom Brady has been brought up a few different times Jeff for exactly what you mention. Here are just FOUR of his homes he owns or has sold for incredible profits:

      Umm, yeah. He is NOT hurting in the least by an America that “is not great”! That is ridiculously laughable as well as an insult to the 90% of Americans. Period. He could very well have more than four homes like these.

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    • Tom Brady is from my hometown of San Mateo, California. Although I’m much older than he is and never met him nor his family (that I can remember), I can tell you about the social circles of his upbringing. He attended Serra High School, a private Catholic school which we public school students knew as socially exclusive and very privileged. The de facto segregation between Serra and our public schools was so pronounced that I can’t even recall socializing or even meeting anyone who attended school there. Our sports teams didn’t play each other, nor did our schools share any educational programs or activities. It was as if Serra was on another planet.

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      • Robert, you just described almost to a perfect TEE Drew Brees’ upbringing and privileged private school education. As a junior in high school after a bad ACL injury playing football, Brees committed his life to Jesus Christ a lot more seriously and he says because of that total life-changing experience, he is a better man, husband, father, and prolific NFL football QB.

        I believe Jake Fromm also comes from an almost identical background in Georgia too. I’m not 100% sure, but anyone can look-up his complete bio too.

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        • Yeah, I think a privileged upbringing has a lot to do with the social perspectives of such people. What’s that old saying about walking in someone else’s shoes? For far too many folks, a pain not felt is a pain that doesn’t exist.

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  3. What strikes me about Fromm and Brees is that they seem to be what I call “stuck in broadcast mode”. They proclaim their own attitudes and values, but it’s hard to imagine them listening to anybody else’s or even considering that a different point of view might be worth listening to. The instinctive response is “Kaepernick is wrong to do that”. A response like “why is Kaepernick doing that?” would be beyond them.

    This “broadcast mode” trait is particularly common among intensely-religious people. Being convinced that they already know the final answers to the universe, they do not easily consider that an unfamiliar viewpoint might be of value or that they have anything to learn from people different from themselves. Once established in a religious context, this attitude easily becomes the default stance toward the rest of life as well.

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    • Oh my Infidel! You have no idea how SPOT ON RIGHT you are Sir. 🎯 “Broadcast mode” is exactly what my ex-wife returned to when she decided to divorce me—on her and her dad’s (ill-founded) religious grounds—turn me into (barely) a part-time father with my two kids, and now today she and their maternal family have convinced my kids to have no contact with me (I don’t exist) since October 2019. No one wants to hear anything I have to say. Talk about nothing BUT broadcast mode… to alienate thru defamation and non-existence from your own children, yeah… that is definitely the love of Christ isn’t it? 🙄💔

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  4. Seems every item of the US’s dirty laundry is being thrown out for everyone to see and pick over. It’s painful to watch, but I have hope you guys can come out of this forced intervention stronger than ever.

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    • I hope so, too. I dread to see what will happen here if those cops get off or get a simple slap on the wrist. Don’t think that can’t or won’t happen, either, because I deeply, deeply fear that is exactly what’s gonna happen. “These fine, fine officers have been found not guilty by reason of ‘Getting Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed Syndrome.’ See, these great fellas were simply having a tough day and made a poor decision–something ANYONE might do. So, they’re not guilty! OK?! Thanks, and have a grand day.” Just watch.

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        • Bro, you’re making me flashback to Rodney King! “No way will they get off!!! The tape!!! The tape!!!” And the verdict was…..Not…fucking…guilty!!! Not saying it will happen, but do not remotely be shocked if there is some bullshit ruling on this. There shouldn’t be. But I’m already prepping for it.

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          • Jeff, what you are saying about the three officers and Derek Chauvin having decent chances of walking free is totally real!!!

            Just off the top of my head I can remember four different cases here in Texas, one of them just 15-20 mins away from where I live an officer shot 6-10 bullets into a vehicle fleeing a high school football after-game party. Three players were inside the car, one of the officers bullets hit the boy in the neck (the artery?) and he bled-out in 2-3 mins and died. That officer walks free today! 😲😡

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            • Yep. There is every reason to believe those cops will walk or get a slap on the wrist. It happens almost EVERY time in these cases. Who will be on the jury for these cops? Where will the trials be held? Who will be the judge? What will be the defense–temporary insanity, perhaps? They may not walk, but I won’t be shocked in the least if they do, and Thor watch over us if they do walk because this country will rightfully explode with violence. The right-wingers may very well get their race war. I just hope they truly know what they’re asking for.

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    • Under our current leadership, nothing will change. Under a more compassionate understanding, and non-prejudiced (or at least considerably less prejudiced) leader, I think progress could be made. But it’s going to take many years and changes in law enforcement. And I fear the latter may be hindered by the conservative judges that the current administration has inserted into the justice system.

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        • You didn’t want a long drawn out discussion … 😉

          It must be a change in thinking … and like PT says, that’s not going to come for many years down the road. IF even then. As I said, it will depend greatly on our leadership.

          Most obviously, IMO, there MUST be consequences for those in law enforcement Thanks to the proliferation of videos, fewer and fewer are going to be able to get away with the stunts they’ve pulled over the years. This is why so much depends on the country’s leadership. Irrefutable standards must be set, followed, AND enforced.

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          • As I said, it will depend greatly on our leadership.

            Nan, I’m sure you remember how poorly President Lyndon B. Johnson handled our country during the awful, divided, violent years of Cuba and Russian missiles, Vietnam, Kennedy’s assassination, Kent State, Civil Rights marches/protests, and finishing JFK’s three-something years then his own 4-yrs in office. Remember? Lyndon was utterly miserable and quite frankly VERY unprepared for leading a nation like ours (going thru bad growing pains!), its incredible demands, and skilled at diplomacy both domestically and abroad, all requires an EXCEPTIONAL man/leader who sort of thrives under that much pressure and 24/7 scrutiny! Johnson was just too much of Texas kuntry-boy WITHOUT those necessary talents.

            Now, compare today this current President to LBJ. Hah!!! 🤣 It might be ridiculous to even put the two men in the same category, huh? 😉

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            • Actually, I’ll have to take your word for it, Prof. For nearly all of my adult life, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about politics or what was going on in the halls of congress. It just wasn’t a topic of interest/discussion during my married years and I had far too many “other things” to focus on after my divorce. It’s only been since Trump has been running — oops! RUINING the country — that I’ve taken an interest.

              Further, Johnson led the country during my “church years” so most of my attention was on “heavenly” things. 😉

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          • Why does it depend on the leadership – whatever this is actually supposed to mean?
            Was it really any different under Obama?

            What laws can be enacted or even enforced to stop racism?
            This is why I asked exactly what you think can be done?

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            • I’m going to turn this around a bit because I feel I’ve given you a sound answer without getting into the “long drawn out” discussion you wanted to avoid. Also, you didn’t ask what I thought could be done … you asked what can/will be done and I offered some ideas.

              So now … what do YOU think would need to be done to stop racism?

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            • You can’t stop it – well not in any legal sense, not really. Other than living in a democracy of course.
              It is all about attitude.

              Remember where I live!

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          • It’s obviously impossible to “stop racism” But specific policies should be able to stop, or at least discourage, some of the most egregiously harmful behaviors that result from racism. People’s beliefs aren’t the government’s business, anyway. Only their harmful behavior is.

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        • It has long seemed to me that having more black police would help a lot. At the very least, they presumably won’t be prejudiced against black people.

          I think too that things will tend to improve as the police internalize the realization that cameras are now everywhere, and anything they do will likely be filmed and broadcasted.

          Was it really any different under Obama?

          Obama didn’t particularly prioritize the issue. After Bush, he had a lot of messes to clean up. Biden might prioritize it — though he’s going to have even more messes to clean up.

          Arkenaten, you live in the country that renounced apartheid. Surely you recognize that fundamental change is indeed possible.

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          • Fundamental change in SA was brought about by election and law.
            This does not necessarily bring about
            in attitude.

            Attitude is almost impossible to legislate against.
            But legislating against the symbols/symbolism that hark back to a more racist past can be done,
            Ban the confederate flag for one thing.

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            • We can’t ban the Confederate flag because of the First Amendment (thank goodness). Governments do need to stop allowing it in official contexts like flying outside state capitols or including it in a state flag, as Mississippi still does.

              It is absolutely not any business of the government to control people’s attitudes. That was the dream of the “government” in Orwell’s 1984. But legislation can and should prohibit harmful behavior.

              The end of apartheid gave black people the vote and ended the worst legal abuses toward them. That’s what matters. Attitudes may not have changed much, but the worst of the behavior they gave rise to was eliminated. In any case, South Africa did achieve fundamental change and eliminated many abuses. There’s no reason the US can’t do the same.

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            • We can’t ban the Confederate flag because of the First Amendment

              Of course you can. It is an amendment.
              The root of the word means to amend.

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            • Really?
              South Africa – my home turf – is currently on its fifth constitution.
              So, unlike the Ten Commandments such things aren’t quite written in stone, as it were.
              And according to a quick Google search the US constitution has been amended a whopping 27 times, apparently.
              I didn’t bother to look what these changes – amendments – were, but I’m pretty sure you know, yes?

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            • Amending the US constitution takes two-thirds of each house of Congress plus approval by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states. In today’s polarized conditions, that’s effectively impossible. In any case, modifying the First Amendment would be disastrous even if it were possible. Religious nuts would want an exception to allow anti-blasphemy laws, control freaks of every stripe would want to add their own exceptions (like the “hate-speech” laws in Europe which in practice are used to harass people who tell the truth about Islam). You know how many sniveling little prigs think anything that makes them uncomfortable should be banned. It would be the end of free expression as we know it. Certainly not a risk to take over something as trivial as banning the Confederate flag. I’m very glad the current circumstances make it impossible.

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            • Difficult, yes. But not impossible. Thus, the constitution can – and has been – changed.
              Furthermore, I did amend my initial comment regarding the confederate flag.

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    • Nan has a good and correct answer. I would only add right now that very little will change in my lifetime and probably not within the next generation either. The U.S. still has way too many Old Guard (Cold War Era) white establishment embedded DEEP into all parts and offices of our government—from county and municipal levels, to state levels, and certainly federal levels—since the days of George Wallace and Joseph McCarthy. IOW, the ages of President tRumpfy or older with a smaller younger age group like Senator Ted Cruz (R) here in Texas. Until these men (and some of their women) die off and become even more of a growing, shrinking minority… sadly events like this Ark will continue. And just to be fair and clear, this has been going on since the 1840’s and 1850’s before the start of our American Civil War. 😥

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          • Exactly!
            All this protesting is simply venting and, for all intent and purpose will have absolutely zero effect.
            Sad as that may sound, it is reality.

            As Warren Beatty once said: ”Everybody gotta keep fucking everybody ’til they’re all the same colour …”

            And that’s reality as well ….

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            • BWAHAHAHA!!! 🤣 I couldn’t agree more with Warren! I REALLY like the way he is thinking!!! Have your cake & icing AND eat it all up!!! Wooohoooo! 🥳😈

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    • I have Ark/Doug. You are an astute one, as always. 😉

      Yes, busy. Had a dear friend of 8-yrs (Chinese) visiting from out of town these past 7-8 days. Despite our horrible management of COVID-19 outbreaks here in Texas and Dallas, she and I had a wonderful time reconnecting! Hence, my short absence. 🙂

      So don’t worry, I will be back around to hassle and annoy you Sir. 😛

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