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Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King is leading the charge to boycott the NFL because it's too pro-Trump, and too "anti-black." He explained his position in a column in the New York Daily News Tuesday.
I've been putting off making a full statement about an important issue for a while now. My mind's made up, though. See my next tweet.— Shaun King (@Shaun King) 1496772232.0
I'm boycotting the @NFL because of their bigotry & blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick. It's gone way too far. https://t.co/QTOREmT68A
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) June 6, 2017
"...I won't be watching the NFL this year," King writes. "I can't, in good conscience, support this league, with many of its pro-Trump owners, as it blacklists my friend and brother Colin Kaepernick for taking a silent, peaceful stance against injustice and police brutality in America."
"It's disgusting and has absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with penalizing a brilliant young man for the principled stance he took last season," he explained.
King writes that he came to the decision to boycott the NFL after the Seattle Seahawks declined to sign controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick after meeting with him, and instead signed a far less talented quarterback in his place.
"Last season, Colin Kaepernick — in what may be seen as his most turbulent year ever — threw three more touchdowns and eight fewer interceptions than Austin Davis has in his entire career in the league, but somehow, Colin Kaepernick still doesn't have job?" King argued.
"It's racism. It's bigotry," he continued, "It's discrimination. Period. It's not football. Don't call it football."
"If you call the decisions by 32 teams to not sign this man a football decision," he said, "you don't know football and probably voted for Donald Trump. Nearly 100 quarterbacks — 96, in fact — are usually signed to teams in the NFL. That Colin Kaepernick is not one of them is disgusting."
Many of his followers showed support for the idea:
Seriously. Thank you for finally saying this, @ShaunKing. Please stop supporting this organization, people. https://t.co/rUll850pFJ— who will protect us from the police? (@who will protect us from the police?) 1496776329.0
It's bigger than football, everyone knows it. The elephant in the room is now a wooly mammoth in a closet. The NFL… https://t.co/1QiszYK897— Husain Abdullah (@Husain Abdullah) 1496776526.0
Did you expect anything different from an org that has a team that is literally a racial slur & term for dead nativ… https://t.co/taW2zTeWh4— antifascist unkle (@antifascist unkle) 1496776367.0
Shaun King has been a vocal critic of law enforcement and regularly pushes cases of police shootings involving African-Americans on social media. He also threatened a boycott of three cities in December if his demands weren't met — that didn't seem to go anywhere.
