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[Cybit]

Boyer was the one who talked to Kaepernick and got Kaepernick to take a knee rather than sit for the anthem

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...mp-colin-kaepernick-nfl-united-states-america

Every. Single. American. Including President Trump, Colin Kaepernick, and my brothers in arms overseas who are wondering, "what in the hell is going on back there?" I'm sitting in the same chair, in the same apartment that I sat in almost a year ago when I wrote an open letter to Colin Kaepernick. I was hurt when I saw him sitting on the bench during the national anthem, but I'm much more hurt now. Not by him, not by where we're at now with the protests, but by us.

Simply put, it seems like we just hate each other; and that is far more painful to me than any protest, or demonstration, or rally, or tweet. We're told to pick a side, there's a line drawn in the sand "are you with us or against us?" It's just not who we are, or at least who we're supposed to be; we're supposed to be better than that, we're Americans. This doesn't even seem to be about right or wrong, but more about right or left.

Today it feels like this national divide isn't even really about the anthem, or the flag, or kneeling, or sitting, or fists in the air. It's not about President Donald Trump, it's not about Colin Kaepernick, it's not about the military, or even police brutality. It feels like it's about winning. That's what makes America so great, our sheer competitiveness. We're winners, and we won't quit until victory is ours.

We see it in sports everyday, we "live and die" by the outcomes of our teams. That desire to win at all cost is costing us greatly now among our neighbors. This winning mentality seems to have spilled over into an obsession with being right and not willing to admit that maybe, just maybe we were wrong. We repeat mantras to ourselves like, "no matter what I will never ever surrender."

Earlier this week I sat down with a group of five Combat Arms and Special Operations Veterans. The round table discussed our individual feelings on the flag, the anthem, and the players who knelt when it was played. We all had very different takes, but what surprised me most at the end of the discussion was that we all agreed on one thing. Colin Kaepernick and President Trump should be the ones uniting our country together. Wait...what? I know it sounds crazy, but maybe that's exactly what we need to see. Maybe that's how we start to heal. Two men sit in a room and talk, simple as that.

That's how it all started with Colin and I, neither of us knew that kneeling would be the result of our conversation. Colin wanted to sit, I wanted him to stand, and so we found a common ground on a knee alongside his teammates. I believe that progress and real change happens in this world when you reach across the divide, you build a bridge, you swallow your pride, you open your mind, you embrace what you don't understand, and ultimately you surrender.

To deploy overseas, train, live with, fight alongside, and ultimately defend foreigners that you have little in common with is truly a challenging task. But returning home to a country that is so divided, so judgmental, and so hateful of one another is almost as difficult to deal with as burying a fallen comrade.

Pretty moving letter - talks about how he hears from folks in his old unit, and their perspectives on the whole thing.

 

[Lord Fagan]

Yeah, but Colin Kaepernick found common ground because he's a reasonable human being.

The traitor will just try to exploit the situation to make it seem like Kaepernick was on his side the whole time while he was calling the guy's mom a bitch on national television.

I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in people hugging it out with that orange shit stain on the presidency. Dude is a goddamn traitor and deserves to be cursed with satire for all time. Kaepernick is doing everything right.

 

[Thequietone]

I would normally say he has a point, but the otherside is white supremacists. There is no middle ground to be had with them.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I mean this is "both sides" just very nicely worded.

Got motherfuckers marching with fire that want to exterminate myself and my wife and child and my president calling them very fine people. So forgive me if I pick a side on this one, champ.

Got cops straight up murdering folks with zero consequences. The opposite in fact. The full resources of the state comes to defend them. Mofos can be caught on tape saying "Im gonna kill" then kill and not get found guilty.

It's not that I hate "the right" it's just I hate the fact that mofos hate my guts and seek to push back against it. If folks were half as outraged at police brutality as they are at Kaepernick this wouldn't be a problem in America anymore.

 

[PBY]

Boyer was the one who talked to Kaepernick and got Kaepernick to take a knee rather than sit for the anthem

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...mp-colin-kaepernick-nfl-united-states-america











Pretty moving letter - talks about how he hears from folks in his old unit, and their perspectives on the whole thing.

Honestly, fuck all of this.

Kaep should have just sat, who gives a fuck how a random white soldier thinks black people should protest.

 

[benicillin]

It even starts with an MLK quote lol.

I'm pretty sure the only thing black people want to win is not getting shot by police.

 

[Zakalwe]

I mean this is "both sides" just very nicely worded.

Yep. No time for this Nate, sorry.

 

[Slayven]

A long walk around "both sides" avenue.

Colin Kaepernick and President Trump should be the ones uniting our country together.

I am sure dude is a good guy. But nah brah, nah

 

[cdyhybrid]

Can't come together until both sides operate in good faith. One of them is fighting to uphold white supremacy, so I think it's safe to say they aren't interested in a good faith effort.

 

[Kojirospath]

incredibly naive. Would you try to find common ground with hitler?

 

[tbm24]

Trump has proven there’s no point in talking to him about anything. Even if trump says what you want to hear, when he gets a whiff that his base isn’t going to like it, he’s going to drive all over you with that bus, back up, and do it again.

Nate Boyer should understand this.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

I would normally say he has a point, but the otherside is white supremacists. There is no middle ground to be had with them.

Relevant:

 

[BajiBoxer]

One side already took the middle ground, while the other sprinted away from it. Middle ground is dead for now.

 

[Morat]

I mean this is "both sides" just very nicely worded.

Yup. Also, he's been abroad defending foreigners has he? Right.

 

[dohdough]

Relevant:

I was waiting for this one. Not disappointed

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

yea this would fly if the president wasnt a literal criminal/snake oil salesman/failure. The only thing that fuck cares about are ratings and having a group of people - no matter that they be the most reckless, racist, judemental, dangerous fuckin subset of our population - behind him saying he's the best thing since sliced Hitler. These people that he calls the "real americans". Good people. His peoples.

Fuck Donald Trump. And fuck getting along with him and his ilk.

 

[borghe]

I mean this is "both sides" just very nicely worded.

No, it’s not. However it does make the entirely unrealistic assumption that one side is ever willing to budge an inch.

If Trump were in any way whatsoever reasonable, there would actually be a solid point here.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

I like the intent, but it's a little disingenuous to act like this is an issue that both sides should stop and think about.

Conservative media and Trump turned it into a partisan issue. They turned it into kneelers against the flag, against the anthem, against our soldiers. They've been harping on it since he took a knee, and have been persistent in turning their followers against it.

It's trite and goes directly against the intent of the letter, but we're not wrong. They are. We give an inch and they'll take a mile. And given the predilections of the man in charge right now that mile they take could end with absolutely no way to protest legally.

There can be no compromise because Trump and conservative media did this to limit how and where black and brown people can protest.

 

[TheRedSnifit]

It's a nice thought?

Maybe, just maybe, this 'talk it out' thing would work if both sides were willing to do it. But it's not Kaepernick, or most on the left, who's a perpetually intransigent dolt.

 

[Camwi]

Simply put, it seems like we just hate each other; and that is far more painful to me than any protest, or demonstration, or rally, or tweet. We're told to pick a side, there's a line drawn in the sand "are you with us or against us?" It's just not who we are, or at least who we're supposed to be; we're supposed to be better than that, we're Americans. This doesn't even seem to be about right or wrong, but more about right or left.

Today it feels like this national divide isn't even really about the anthem, or the flag, or kneeling, or sitting, or fists in the air. It's not about President Donald Trump, it's not about Colin Kaepernick, it's not about the military, or even police brutality. It feels like it's about winning. That's what makes America so great, our sheer competitiveness. We're winners, and we won't quit until victory is ours.

We see it in sports everyday, we "live and die" by the outcomes of our teams. That desire to win at all cost is costing us greatly now among our neighbors. This winning mentality seems to have spilled over into an obsession with being right and not willing to admit that maybe, just maybe we were wrong. We repeat mantras to ourselves like, "no matter what I will never ever surrender."

Sounds to me like it is very much about Trump.

 

[The Omega Man]

we're supposed to be better than that, we're Americans

smh

 

[Kebiinu]

Sounds like a packaged "both sides" gift, and I honestly don't give a shit about playing nice with the "other side." so I'm gonna return to sender.

 

[Slayven]

What is the middle ground of "Police shouldn't murder people"?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

No, it's not.

Reads like it to me:

Simply put, it seems like we just hate each other; and that is far more painful to me than any protest, or demonstration, or rally, or tweet. We're told to pick a side, there's a line drawn in the sand "are you with us or against us?" It's just not who we are, or at least who we're supposed to be; we're supposed to be better than that, we're Americans. This doesn't even seem to be about right or wrong, but more about right or left.

What is the middle ground of "Police shouldn't murder people"?

Maybe we should have "Murder-free Wednesdays" for police brutality. And every third police murdering folks they actually get convicted. You know...to meet in the middle.

 

[frequency]

What's the common ground between being shot for your skin colour and not being shot for your skin colour?

 

[platocplx]

no thanks. You're either on the wrong side of history at this point or the right side and many americans especially white americans have a disgusting toxic view of democracy, patriotism etc and honestly i'm sick of the people who have been/and are oppressed etc always having to be the ones to appeal to the ones in power and find a common ground.

True leadership is about benevolence and being able to discern that their experiences are not a whole reality and that there is a large swath of americans who have issues and they should be there to make a greater society not just be as worse as yesterday but be better than than yesterday and time and time again all I see people of Trumps illk do is just cross their arms and will not go forward without kicking and screaming all the way.

we've seen it for the past 8 years in congress with Obama trying to be a centrist and they demonized him and did everything to undermine policies. Im tired of turning the other cheek to this bullshit.

 

[BajiBoxer]

What is the middle ground of "Police shouldn't murder people"?

Murder quotas?

 

[TheRedSnifit]

What is the middle ground of "Police shouldn't murder people"?

Police should beat the shit out of people.

I'm so glad we talked and found a middle ground!

 

[perfectchaos007]

I agree with Nate in premise. We need to come together. Of course that is a pipe dream.

 

[Slayven]

Reads like it to me:

Kneeling in silence is the most peaceful protest you can do, but ti was met with

 

[The Jackdog]

one side did it to start a conversation, the other side is doing everything possible to avoid that conversation from happening.

i cant play the both sides bullshit anymore.

 

[finowns]

I agree with his point about winning.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I agree with Nate in premise. We need to come together. Of course that is a pipe dream.

How do we "come together" if one side is saying

"Hey the cops are killing us for things that aren't justifiable uses of force"

and the other side is saying

"Fuck you, all lives matter. Every cop killing is justified. You weren't there. Being a cop is hard. They wanna go home to their families."

 

[JimtotheHum]

It’s this sappy, “both sides” bullshit that enables bigots to have a major voice in our culture. “It feels like it’s about winning” -When I think about what Kaepernick is fighting for, to dismiss it in that way really pisses me off.

 

[wenis]

Oh so both sides gotta hear each other out.

let me recall the last hundreds of years of history when minorities tried to sit down and talk to white nationalists...

death.murder.genocide.

nah
no thanks.

 

[formasymphonic]

I mean this is "both sides" just very nicely worded.

Got motherfuckers marching with fire that want to exterminate myself and my wife and child and my president calling them very fine people. So forgive me if I pick a side on this one, champ.

Got cops straight up murdering folks with zero consequences. The opposite in fact. The full resources of the state comes to defend them. Mofos can be caught on tape saying "Im gonna kill" then kill and not get found guilty.

It's not that I hate "the right" it's just I hate the fact that mofos hate my guts and seek to push back against it. If folks were half as outraged at police brutality as they are at Kaepernick this wouldn't be a problem in America anymore.

/co-signed.

 

[Fisty]

I really hate this rabid fetishization of the military in this country. This guy isn't defending foreigners abroad, he's taking a paycheck for doing exactly what the fuck hes told without question, and I don't salute that.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

It'd probably help if the other side were good faith actors.

But they aren't.

They don't want to fix problems, just sow divisions.

 

[platocplx]

one side did it to start a conversation, the other side is doing everything possible to avoid that conversation from happening.

i cant play the both sides bullshit anymore.

YUP.

Literally there are full sites like this:https://www.joincampaignzero.org

with exceptional talking points about whats wrong with policing in america.

No one wants to listen they just want to keep everything the same.

 

[boiled goose]

A little bit both sides and naive.

The reason for the division is that Donald Trump and his followers are real threats to the country and the world.

To put CK and Trump on the same plane is honestly absurd. It's a protester and player vs the fucking president.

The people upset at flag kneeling agree that police brutality is a problem or not? It's not really a two sides problem.

There shouldn't have to be a compromise between delusion and reality. That's ultimately the issue. One side is delusional and the other can't compromise with delusion because it's absurd

 

[perfectchaos007]

How do we "come together" if one side is saying

"Hey the cops are killing us for things that aren't justifiable uses of force"

and the other side is saying

"Fuck you, all lives matter. Every cop killing is justified. You weren't there. Being a cop is hard. They wanna go home to their families."

If both sides stopped using hyperbolic and exaggerated claims on what the "other side" is doing, that would be a start.

 

[Dabanton]

How certain folks turned a sitting protest about police brutality into people 'disrespecting' the military is amazing.

 

[The Ummah]

Nope. There is no "sit down and have a discussion, and come out shitting rainbows holding hands with love bursting from every pore of your being". Colin stands (and in this case, kneels) for THE PEOPLE. Trump doesn't give a fuck.

Sit Trump in a room and tell him how much of an insensitive asshole he is. Sit him in a room and tell him how bad of a job he is doing as #45. Fact is, he already fucking knows. He doesn't care.

This statement can be reduced to this: "BOTH SIDES"

I'm not here for this.

If both sides stopped using hyperbolic and exaggerated claims on what the "other side" is doing, that would be a start.

I'm not here for this either.

 

[Apharmd]

Disappointing. Hit all the right notes of classically misunderstanding (or refusing ti understand) the cause. Complete failure to empathize and understand that players are kneeling due to injustices bred from racism.

Even went for the bonus points of dredging up Martin Luther King Jr. too.

 

[Mael]

One side is kneeling during a song, the other is beating and killing people...
I'm wondering which side is being unreasonable...

 

[Lois_Lane]

If both sides stopped using hyperbolic and exaggerated claims on what the "other side" is doing, that would be a start.

What have Republicans done that makes this characterization wrong?

 

[sflufan]

Nate, let me say this to you as a fellow veteran: not just "no", but "hell freakin' no".

 

[PBY]

If both sides stopped using hyperbolic and exaggerated claims on what the "other side" is doing, that would be a start.

Come again? I can't even begin to understand this.

 

[Ricky Ricardo]

What is the middle ground of "Police shouldn't murder people"?

“Shut up and be grateful you get to live here, negro.”

 

[Slayven]

If both sides stopped using hyperbolic and exaggerated claims on what the "other side" is doing, that would be a start.

Examples?