“Put money into communities these players come from that will not just lead them to the field, but to become lawyers, doctors, professionals. The NFL should prepare players for after their careers. Then when Black men started playing, they became ‘athletes.’ The focus changed. Thirty or 40 years ago, there was no distinction. “It’s something like that the NFL should invest in,” he said. But when I see them later, they thank me for getting them ready for the world.” “They hate me for giving it to them straight and requiring they make at least a B to play football. “I tell each of the players that there is a 1 percent chance for them to make it to the NFL, and that a career in this, a high contact sport, lasts only three to four years on average,” he said. He teaches an honors course at Miami of Ohio called Critical Ways to Ethnic Studies (formerly Introduction Into Black World Studies) that each football player at the school is required to take-and pass-to remain eligible to play. “This is a moment for them to look at real ways to help,” Coates said. Now, will the players not kneel before the first game and then kneel the rest of the games? And more importantly, is their decision to kneel going to be accepted from that point on?”Ĭoates agreed with Brown that a song would not fall in line with the purported objectives. “However, it’s definitely placating because what’s next? That’s a temporary gesture. “I think it’s a good thing because it would show respect,” Ship said. Pittsburgh Steeler fan Michele Ship of New Jersey said that while she wouldn’t mind the idea of hearing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before the games, it would not be enough.

It will raise questions about if they are serious about helping.” “The plan can’t be 72 bars of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ It’s not going to do what they think it would do. Nolan Rollins would like to see the NFL invest in the economy of Black communities.

If you really want to show that you stand in solidarity with the Black players and with the communities they want to stand with and represent, there has to be a solid plan,” he said. “If the NFL wants to make a tangible difference, this isn’t the way to do it. And really, it would probably be more effective to play Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America,’ as the young people who are leading this charge likely do not connect with ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ as the previous generation.” But there is little to nothing we can do with symbolism. “I wouldn’t say it’s placating, because that would infer negative intentions,” said Nolan Rollins, the chief executive of SMRT Mouth, a technology company in Los Angeles that produces a device that allows athletes to measure key biometrics while training and competing. They also consider it a meaningless machination that borders on the insulting. And they contrast it to the fall-out from Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback who took a knee to protest the police brutality of African Americans during the national anthem in the 2016 season and has not played in the NFL since. Many Black fans share Coates’ sentiments that it would be hollow to have the poem-turned-song written by James Weldon Johnson in 1900 performed for one game to open the season on Sept. Rodney Coates advocates for the NFL to help Black communities and not just football players.

If it were serious it would open pathways for opportunities in a number of ways. There are so many ways to show its commitment. “It’s blatant pandering to public sentiment,” Coates told NBC News.

Lift every voice and sing