By TALIAH WHITSON
During the Super Bowl LV, the NFL announced that they would be donating $250 million toward fighting systematic racism in their ‘Inspiring Change’ ad. After the announcement, fans went to social media to react to the announcement.
After the death of George Floyd in May and Breonna Taylor in March, tensions have been high regarding the Black Lives Matter movement.
Singer Mariah Carey tweeted
Happy Colin Kaepernick Appreciation Day!
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) February 8, 2021
“Happy Colin Kaepernick Appreciation Day!” She referred to Colin Kaepernick’s initial move years ago to take the knee during the start of football games.
The ‘Inspire Change’ ad featured players with the names ‘Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd’ on their helmets and images of players kneeling, just as Kapernick did years prior.
Many users were confused by the NFL’s sudden change of support for the Black Lives Matter movement as in 2016 Colin Kapernick was basically blackballed from the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem.
After the police shooting of Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, and many more that year, Kapernick became active with expressing his outrage at the disproportionate killing of Black People by police, and police brutality.
After the outrage, Kapernick left the San Francisco 49ers and has not been able to get signed to a team since. Kaepernick sued the NFL and won a settlement of less than $10 million. Right now Kapernick is not in the NFL but has been focusing
“It seems like they are only doing it when it’s beneficial to them[the NFL]. No one cared when it was him, [Kapernick] but now that it’s a trend they care. After the uproar of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, it forced everyone to pay attention. It doesn’t seem genuine,” Nasair Dublin, of New Jersey.
Alex Smith was a special guest on the 10 Questions With Kyle Brandt Podcast. He spoke on his experience with the San Francisco 49ers and Colin Kapernick. “I think he [Kapernick] was ahead of his time certainly, trying to call out social injustice, especially around police reform”
In a Super Bowl commercial, the NFL touted commitments to racial justice, despite previously rallying against football players protesting police brutality. pic.twitter.com/6jlzAtuw4r
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) February 8, 2021
While I think it’s great the NFL is taking a stand against systematic racism, this is the same organization that colluded to keep a player out of the league for protesting the exact same thing. Here’s to hoping everyone learned something.
— ??SurroundedByBalls? (@KMDgoBlue) February 8, 2021
WOW so interesting! I love the facts when you write about Colin Kaepernick. Also, it is so incredibly generous that they donate that much money. That’s an inspiration.
Short and to the point. I like how the Tweets say a lot for the story without you needing to go into extended detail. They really add to the story and the length feels like its perfect for an online piece.
I liked how to-the-point this story was. The reporting was clear and concise. The Mariah Carey Tweet was very relevant. Brining a very well-known celebrity into the conversation works very well for Search Engine Optimization. I agree with your angle for the story, what the NFL did was not very genuine. (Especially because of what they did to Kapernick.)