Last night, guest Antjuan Seawright hit the mark as he explained why NFL players are still protesting police brutality – and Fox host Laura Ingraham couldn’t stand to hear about it.
Seawright noted that the same day the National Football League issued new rules fining teams whose players do not stand for the national anthem, a video was released of Milwaukee police using a stun gun on Sterling Brown, a black NBA rookie, over a parking violation. “Keep in mind, we’re having this conversation again because African Americans and black and brown people are five times more likely to be injured or killed at the hands of law enforce[ment]…” Seawright began.
It’s hard to know the rest of what he said because Ingraham interrupted. She showed no interest in Brown nor the statistics nor how African Americans or any others might feel an urgent need to speak out in the most public way possible. “Then write an op-ed,” Ingraham snapped.
“Laura, these people are human beings before they’re football players,” Seawright continued. And, obviously, NFL players feel vulnerable to police over-reactions, too.
But Ingraham didn’t care. She repeated her “Write an op-ed!” command. She added, condescendingly, “A lot of them volunteer and have great charities. That’s fantastic. But people tune in to watch the game. They don’t care about your political views. I hate to tell you, they don’t care.” Then she cut off Seawright to speak to her conservative guest, Burgess Owens.
You may be surprised to know that I think there’s value in keeping a football game politics-free. But if the players were protesting on behalf of some conservative cause, I suspect Ingraham would have cast them as national heroes and martyrs if anyone tried to silence them. Regardless, her Marie Antoinette-ish alternative amounted to saying, “Keep your black troubles away from my white-privilege experience!”
Watch Ingraham try to silence what she doesn’t want to hear below, from the May 24, 2018 The Ingraham Angle, via NewsHound Richard.
.@antjuansea does a wondering job explaining why NFL Players are still protesting and it's met astounding intolerance from @IngrahamAngle. pic.twitter.com/JwstN0g4S5
— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) May 25, 2018
Humpt … you must not be from around these here parts?
They are all variations on the same dull-minded theme. Awfully funny/exasperating when that mindset is melded with snooty superiority.