Are you still watching the NFL? The Cleveland Browns may have given you a new reason to stop…

11 players from the Browns chose to take a knee during the National Anthem on Monday Night just before the Browns were due to kick off against the New York Giants.

USA Today has the list of players involved, “Linebackers Jamie Collins and Christian Kirksey, running backs Duke Johnson, Terrence Magee and Isaiah Crowell, wide receivers Kenny Britt and Ricardo Louis, safeties Jabrill Peppers and Calvin Pryor, tight end Seth DeValve, and cornerback Jamar Taylor constituted the group of kneeling players.

“Several other players — rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer, offensive tackle Shon Coleman, punter Britton Colquitt, cornerback Jason McCourty and offensive guard Marcus Martin — stood next to the group and placed an arm on one of a kneeling teammate.”

Tight End Seth Devalve, who is the first white player to take part in the NFL protests, said this after the game, “The United States is the greatest country in the world. It is because it provides opportunities to its citizens that no other country does. The issue is that it doesn’t provide equal opportunity to everybody. And I wanted to support my African-American teammates today who wanted to take a knee. We wanted to draw attention to the fact that there’s things in this country that still need to change. I myself will be raising children that don’t look like me, and I want to do my part as well to do everything I can to raise them in a better environment than we have right now.” 

The Browns also issued a statement about the protest after the game:

“As an organization, we have a profound respect for our country’s National Anthem, flag and the servicemen and servicewomen in the United States and abroad. We feel it’s important for our team to join in this great tradition and special moment of recognition, at the same time we also respect the great liberties afforded by our country, including the freedom of personal expression.” 

Coach Hue Jackson, who had previously said that he hoped his players would not participate in such a protest, defended his players:

“We respect our players; we respect the flag. Those guys came to me and talked to me about it before they ever made a decision to do it. That is the way we feel about it, and we have talked about this. I said at some point in time, they may, and they have. I won’t know about the next game until it happens, but again, this was tonight and we will move on from there.”

Really?

They “respect” the flag?

Americans can protest if they wish to do so, but these players, their teams, and the NFL need to realize that we can protest too.

Seth Devalve, who participated in the protest, had the gall to admit that our nation is the “greatest in the world,” and yet he still chose to participate in this farce because he is  uneducated about the issue.

There is NO epidemic of police killing black men. I would urge Seth Devalve and every NFL Anthem protester to watch Larry Elder explain the facts about “sytemic racism” in America before choosing to participate in another ill-considered, and foolish protest.