$89 million, people.
That is what these football protests were really all about, according to an article in Sporting News entitled “Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins will end raised-fist demonstration during national anthem” by Ron Clements on 1 December 2017, where we were informed as follows:
Malcolm Jenkins believes he has done his part to raise awareness of racial injustices and inequality enough to end his raised-fist demonstration during the national anthem.
The Eagles cornerback told reporters Thursday he would not raise his fist during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” prior to Sunday’s game against the Seahawks.
“I don’t anticipate demonstrating this week simply because I felt like when I started demonstrating, my whole motivation was to draw awareness to disenfranchised people, communities of color, injustices around the country, our criminal justice system,” Jenkins said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“And obviously through this year and talking with the league and what they’ve kind of proposed, I feel like has presented a bigger and better platform to continue to raise that awareness and continue to [influence] positive change.”
end quote
As we will see, what the league “kind of proposed” was $89 million, and since that is a round number, this dude decided to take it.
Getting back to Sporting News:
Jenkins is one of the leaders on the Players Coalition, a group of player reps who have met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to address social issues.
The NFL and the Players Coalition reached an agreement on Wednesday for the league to pledge $89 million toward social justice causes supported by players.
Jenkins helped form the coalition with now-retired receiver Anquan Boldin, who believes the new agreement with the league provides the necessary incentives for players to discontinue certain demonstrations during the playing of the anthem.
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