Final Draft-Kyle Messenger

Final Draft-Kyle Messenger

Kyle Messenger

Eng 123

Professor Drown

February 16, 2020

How Should UNE Handle This Situation?

My name is Kyle, I am a public relations consultant. I am here today to talk to you about the uprising conflict we are beginning to face between our athletes and our schools educational intuition. Here at UNE we are supposedly dedicated to free inquiry of students and to exchange point of views amongst the head officials all the way down to the students. In result, this statement made by the school, athletes have started to protest during the national anthem using political statements such as raising a fist or in some cases, taking a knee during the national anthem. Now, what happens when students participate in these protests it raises the question of will this affect our reputation as a school and if it could have an impact on the enrollment, retention and operating budgets in uncertain ways. That is why I am here to give you some advice on how to balance out the effect of students protesting to help make sure these downfalls won’t happen. 

In recent years, protests have become more popular in sports such as the NFL and the NBA. The most popular protests yet has been the movement to stand up to injustice and unnecessary police killings. The first professional athlete that really put a spotlight on this issue was 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick. When Colin took the first knee in 2016, it stunned many Americans in a few ways, support, anger, and confusion where just a few of the categories that the american people fell into once seeing this taking place. But, Colin started a trend that ultimately led, many other players from different teams to participate. Unfortunately, many viewers were disgusted by his acts of disrespecting  the veterans and flag by kneeling during the anthem. This caused many NFL viewers to even stop watching games. Later that season, the entire Pittsburgh Steelers team did not come out for the national anthem. This created a lot of controversy in the program which ultimately resulted in the team never doing that again. But, when audiences began to understand the true meaning behind the protests it brought some angry americans back on their feet. Unfortunately, even with the true message being sent out there are people who still believe kneeling isn’t the right thing to do because s an american, to stand, is to show a sign of respect. This standing during the anthem is to give respect for not just the country but the veterans and soldiers who have died for our freedom. So, when these acts are taken place it creates two sides of the image of America and sports. One side feels politics don’t have a place in sports and there other support the awareness the athletes are spreading. Like it whether or not, it will always cause these two arguments to collide. If we allow the students to protest  this issue by raising a fist I believe it wouldn’t do a lot more damage to the schools reputation as much as an athlete kneeling at a game during the national anthem.

 Players have been questioning authorities and government by protesting during the national anthem pre-game ceremony that is specifically for the support of our country but more importantly our troops. While we have players protesting an issue during the time of showing pride for our country, it triggers many people to believe their protest is against the entire country while also disrespecting the ones that sacrificed their lives for our country’s fate. There have been many suggestions, explanations, and ideas for players that try to eliminate what it looks as disrespecting our country to get their point across. By players continue to express their feelings it has caused some effect to the NFL fanbase. In the article,” The Fans Who Say They’re Walking Away from the NFL” there are many people that express their feelings about this ongoing occurrences from both sides. Jim Coletti explains how he completely stopped watching his long time favorite team the Pittsburgh Steelers, because the entire team didn’t come out of the locker room for the national anthem. He explains his view upon that strategy of protesting.” I am of the opinion that this is quite possibly the worst way to go about protesting. If you want to hold a rally at Heinz Field to allow your players to voice their opinions, that would be fine.”(Paragraph 2) I have to say I agree with this statement because if you’ve known anybody whose has served or if you were to imagine being a veteran and the only time you are truly being appreciated in front of the nation is completely neglected by a team, that wouldn’t feel good at all. Also, I believe rally’s would be better for the players and the NFL industry itself. One reason why I believe that is because it would inform the people who don’t know why they were kneeling or raising a fist. Not only that, but it would clarify that the players are not trying to disrespect the veterans for their sacrifices. Bottom line when it comes to football, in my opinion, 90% of the viewers watching are watching because of the game and if you want to protest an issue, I would suggest to leave the flag and anthem out of it because the message the player is trying to send can be put out another way with just enough viewers to see without disrespecting the men who have sacrificed everything for us. Because of how the tradition of the national anthem has worked for a long time, when people do the opposite of what you are supposed to do during that time, it causes people to feel shame upon the person associated with these acts. So, when many Americans have taken themselves away from the game because of these protests, it is something we need to think about at our University. The reason why is, if we don’t take the account of people believing that kneeling during the national isn’t right it could potentially decrease the rate of enrollment. Which, is not good for a college like ours that is solely run from the students. In effort to balance both sides of this argument, something we need to do is to find an alternative method to help the players who want to speak out. Without, making the other side discouraged and uncomfortable with our university. When I say about the “other side” I’m talking about the myth of football.

As athletes speak upon their beliefs it seems there are at least two sides to this argument. These two sides seem to connect as separate views of America. Author Newkirk ii explains his beliefs in the myths of the NFL. When I say myth you probably are questioning what I mean by that. But, Newkirk believes the NFL created its own version or image of America. The myth supports his claim about things such as patriotism for our country by standing and giving attention during the national anthem. Also stated, that sports should be unifying without any racism because it is believed to be in the past. This idea ties into the people who disagree with the protests because they believe in these core values about the sport and how it rep[resents their version of America. But, the side of the protesters believe it is right to speak up which is not the wrong thing to do to help promote change. But, like said before, I believe for the universities sake and support from all sides we should allow the pregame ceremonies to help support the players views who want to speak up without having to run the risk of mass assumptions of disrespect towards our country so our school won’t receive such damage from people of other beliefs. I believe ideas such as rally’s, the African American National Anthem, or raising a fist during the national anthem would help decrease the damage upon the university.

There have been many protests and ways people choose to express their beliefs and issues. In the NFL, there have been national anthem protests that have affected the fan base. So, I believe une should create different alternatives to minimize negative effects amongst the school in general. After analyzing all aspects of this topic, I have made the list of guidelines for all athletes to follow:

  • All athletes are allowed do raise a fist during the national anthem 
  • All sports during Black History Month shall play the Black National Anthem before the traditional national anthem
  • All athletes must stand during the pregame ceremonies
  • If rallies were to be held, they must be peaceful 
  • One shall not promote police retaliation

If one were to go against this policy it will result in fines or even suspension. The reason why we shouldn’t break these rules is because there are factors that come into play amongst the student body, community, and future students. The reason why I believe that we should be careful when talking about police brutality during a speech or rally is because the speech may persuade the audience to think people should rebel against the police. Also, for someone like myself who is a son of a retired police officer, I can let you know that not all police officers are racist, or killers. My father has received two  life saving awards that were more than helpful and brave and to hear the claim of all police officers are bad people, it doesn’t sit right in my stomach. I understand when it comes to people getting killed for an unqualified reason, is truly unfair and horrible. But at the same time, there are different police officers who actually care about everyone’s safety no matter what colored skin they are. Let’s just say, I was visiting a school and there was a presentation going on about police brutality. The speaker ends up turning the presentation into a violent message towards the police, I would most likely end up not going to the school just because I maybe wouldn’t want to be going to a school that believes and promotes such a thing. Staying away from disrespectful language towards the issue would ultimately end up minimizing the impact upon the education system and the student bodies now and into the future. Next, with the other recommendations about the ceremonies I believe, as a consultant that these strategic ways to help deliver the same message without any overly opposing views to upset another belief. 

Works Cited

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