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Will boycotting the NFL really help society?

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, left, and safety Eric Reid kneel during the national anthem before an NFL football game.
San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, left, and safety Eric Reid kneel during the national anthem before an NFL football game. AP

Boycott the National Football League. That seems to be the solution to stopping the “national anthem protests.”

That is ignorant and not acknowledging the real reason players are taking a knee, which is protesting the injustice, discrimination and police brutality against people of color.

How about instead of using the “boycott” solution, people find solutions to the real reason players are protesting?

The people who favor boycotting the NFL would say, “Boycotting will hurt their wallets.”

Well yes, it would, but what will that solve for society? So we would have everyone standing for the national anthem again, but racial injustice, discrimination and police brutality would continue.

Even with as peaceful a protest as kneeling for the anthem, people have found a way to switch the narrative. During the Civil Rights era, when African-Americans chose to walk miles to work rather than take the bus, were they protesting the bus?

No, they were protesting the inequality and discrimination against them. So the real solution to ending the real reason why players are protesting is to end racial injustice, discrimination and police brutality.

Daniel Flores , Madera

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 1:39 AM with the headline "Will boycotting the NFL really help society?."

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