The biggest mistake the BLM movement and its affiliates have made is to allow the movement to start as a partisan issue and remain so.

I say this as a person who agrees that police brutality/aggression is high and I am willing to take the word from the black community that it is oppressive for them.

I dislike the NFL and have no interest in the sport. That said, the people who go to the games and the people who watch the games who are conservative (especially) do not want to be reminded of racism as the NFL is a self mastabatory experiance where people can live vicariously through professional athletes and "their teams" successes. Hell, I just had dinner today with my family with this game on with adults screaming like absolute maniacs at the tv in excitement that they won the game.

As for the people here who are not understanding the connection between the anthem and the military, that's fine although it does exist strongly for many. As a veteran myself who's never been particularly patriotic who grew up with an extremely unpatriotic parent, even I can see the value many Americans attach to the anthem. Many Americans are nationalistic (for better or worse) as many have pointed out and many tie the anthem in with all things they consider American and great: from our military to our achievements, etc. These people do not associate bad things, such as systematic racism, endless war and the many other bad things that the US does abroad and locally.

I personally think this is a very bad place to pick this fight for a lack of a better term. It's almost comical how tone deaf both sides are when this sort of thing happens at this venue. Sure, Trump is an asshole and has agitated this situation significantly, but its still not the place for it. Protesting at an NFL game during the anthem especially is only going to embolden both sides further into their convictions.

The NFL is an American cliche. And by American I mean " 'MERICA" American. It's hard to imagine a worse venue to bring a BLM statement to at this stage in the movement while it remains highly controversial and partisan.

The issue needs to be addressed, there is no doubt about it. But if you want to convert people baby gloves need to be used. This is a sludge hammer.

Now lets see how hard I get brigaded for the above post, heh.