Can The Love Of Profits Support Racism?

While traveling to visit family, we stopped at a restaurant to eat. And as we were eating, I overheard an interesting conversation between two football fans about Michael Vick and Colin Kaepernick. What did those players have in common besides the fact that they were quarterbacks?

It turns out that NFL teams had a tough decision to make as to whether they wanted to sign each of these players because of the controversies they caused. Vick was controversial because of his conviction on his participation in a dog fighting ring. Kaepernick became controversial for kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem to protest the race-based police violence that has plagued our nation. 

One difference between the two quarterbacks is that Vick played again after his career was halted while Kaepernick has not. Why is that the case? The one guy stated that Vick was seen as a top quarterback while Kaepernick was not. Thus, though fans might have been upset with Vick, his skills on the field would ensure that there would be enough fans in the stands to see him play. The guy went on to say that such is not the case for Kaepernick because his football skills do not justify any team taking a chance on him. The chance, of course, refers to the loss in profits because too many fans would be so upset that they would boycott either going to the games or buying team paraphernalia.

What we should note is how that conversation confirms something Martin Luther King Jr. said about racism and other stuff. In his sermon/speech against the Vietnam War, King said the following (click here for the source):

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
 

 Before getting to the main point, we should note what King said about the results of a society that values things over people. The results were racism, materialism, and militarism. In other places, King replaced 'materialism' with 'economic exploitation.' Since King called these three characteristic  triplets here and stated elsewhere that these triplets were inseparable, King was saying that we can't get rid of racism without getting rid of materialism/economic exploitation and militarism.

But the main point in quoting King here is to show the cause and effect relationship between characteristics like racism, militerism and such with valuing things more than people. That as society values things, defined by King as gadgets, profits, and property rights, as being more important than people, then we will forever be visited by the plague of those triplets.

Thus, what the one guy said about NFL teams being willing to sign Vick and unwilling to sign Kaepernick confirms what King said a over 50 years ago. That profits for the team are more important to the NFL owners than supporting Kaepernick's moral stand against racism practiced by SOME law enforcement officers. And thus while profit reigns, because Kaepernick's skills were not seen as offsetting the anticipated fan reaction to signing him, the NFL owners showed that they honored profits more than Kaepernick's protests against racism. 

Oh yes, the NFL owners have promised to donate money to causes that battle racism. But note that these owners are willing to take steps that don't require them to risk profits. Thus, when it comes to risking profits, NFL owners are willing to give a person convicted of participating in a dog fighting ring a chance but not a person who continues to protest against racism.

So how much are we willing to sacrifice to rid our nation of racism? The NFL owners have, by their actions, already indicated that they are not willing to risk profits to combat racism. How about the rest of us? Are we following their lead in opposing racism only when it involves not making any sacrifices, or will we be willing to sacrifice things that are important to us to oppose racism?