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In America, the Black Man Is the Most Targeted and Sought After

Black Men are both targeted and sought after for the wrong reasons

By A.J. JonesPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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Black men are the most sought after men in the world and yet also the most targeted. In 2019, black men have been targeted on several levels. There have been videos where black men were being followed or approached by police with either false information or no information. One video that went viral on YouTube and Facebook showed a black man from East Texas gets approached by the police when he was playing basketball with his kids. The officer called him by a name that was not his name and then, made a try to cuff the man then, the officer called for back up and officer that showed up as back up brought a device to try to find the man they approached as the suspect they were trying to apprehend. Then, picture of the suspect they were after did not match the identity of the man that they approached. The man frustrated and angry did tell the officers that he would report them for what they had done to him. This kind of incident has become almost normal and common place between black men and the police when rhetoric of racism and White Supremacy is being shouted from the White House Lawn.

The rhetoric of #45 has been on display for the whole world to see ever since he announced that he would run for the office of the president. In the fall of 2016, #45 would come up against Colin Kaepernick for his "kneeling" protest of the justices that were happening to people of color and for reform in the criminal justice system. Even with all that, the protest hit close to home for a lot of the NFL's players because over 70 percent of the players in the league are black and they stood by Kaepernick in protest by also kneeling. In response to the protesting #45 called the protesting players in the league "son's of bitches" and told them if they didn't like what was going on in the country; they could leave and go somewhere else. Eric Reed, a teammate of Coin Kaepernick with the 49ers came under fire by the league and the league pushed him out. The number of viewers fell and ticket revenue also took a hit as well. Now, Eric Reed is back in the league and is one of the better defensive backs in the league and still working with Kaepernick. Kaepernick's protest still made an impact whether people see it or not; right now as we speak the NFL is still trying to recover from losing viewers and revenue.

The NFL has lost revenue and viewers over the last seasons and the NFL sought after Hip Hop's first billionaire Jay Z and made a deal with him. Jay-Z himself has said, "That this deal is going to be used to help with social injustice awareness." This is the same league that has let "woman beaters", "weed heads", and PED users play in the league, but blackballed a guy who has no criminal record and protested for his community. The league targeted Kaep, but sought after Jay Z to get black money and viewers back, how can the people not see that? Its is in plain sight for all to see. People are still going as far to say that Kaepernick is a bad guy for protesting to this day.

C​olin Kaepernick took the mantle and used his platform to speak out of the systemic oppression, police brutality, and racial inequality. Jay Z spoke out for the first time on any social issue after Colin Kaepernick's protest still had momentum. Jay Z remained silent after Sandra Bland was killed in Waller County Jail in TX and after Philando Castile was killed during a traffic stop where he told the police he had a firearm with a license, then seconds later was killed while reaching for the gun permit. People in the black community are looking at Jay-Z as a shady business man and a pawn by the NFL because of a publicly known double-cross of his former business partner Dame Dash. People are so caught up in him getting the title as the first billionaire artist in hip hop that they are not even trying to see that possibility that he is trying to line his own pockets and say,"Damn, the community!" A possible chance that he could turn his back on his people and fans to make money is real. The real question that the hip-hop community and the black community as whole should ask is "Who else would the NFL used to lure the black dollar and black viewers back?" Jay-Z and nobody else. People are going to follow him due to his status and him having a platform as a celebrity and the NFL knows that. The NFL targeted Kaepernick and the NFL sought after Jay-Z for a reason...

Let that sink in...

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About the Creator

A.J. Jones

6'5 Saxophonic Poetic Minister. Writer, producer, poet, and independent artist. College Athletics Wage Advocate, ADOS, advocate for reparations, advocate for HBCUs, Advocate for Arts in the Schools, and Advocate for Black Church Musicians

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