controversy: a few fans dropping the Rams because of the WRs's Ferguson gesture

http://www.ksdk.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2014/11/30/rams-players-enter-field-with-hands-up/19703735/

StL Police Officers Association condemns Rams display

Prior to Sunday’s game versus the Oakland Raiders, several members of the St. Louis Rams offense came out during pregame introductions with their hands up as they entered the field at the Edward Jones Dome.

Wide receivers Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt and tight end Jared Cook all took the field displaying the gesture, which mimics the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” stance that has become a frequent image among protesters since the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in nearby Ferguson, Mo. in August.

While the players and Rams have not yet confirmed whether the gesture was related to the recent protests after a prosecutor’s decision Monday not to indict Wilson, a number of other athletes did respond to the news from Ferguson via social mediaand in interviews earlier this week.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association has released a statement condemning the St. Louis Rams football players who entered the field displaying the “hands up don’t shoot” pose. Click here to read the entire statement[/url].

You can read the full statement below:

St. Louis, Missouri (November 30, 2014) – The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.

Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the “hands-up-don’t-shoot” pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown. The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.

SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda said, “now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson’s account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eye-witness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.”

Roorda was incensed that the Rams and the NFL would tolerate such behavior and called it remarkably hypocritical. “All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson. Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving cancelled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis’s finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance,” Roorda said.

The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization’s displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be. Roorda warned, “I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”

• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by JackPMiller.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by JackPMiller.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by JackPMiller.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by zn.

Yeah–I agree with Jack.

If that makes you drop the team you were not really a fan anyway.

I commend the players that did and wish it was the whole team.The KKK connected military armed incompetent cops were offended? Fuck em.

21Dog wrote:

JackPMiller wrote:
They were probably never real Rams fans in the first place.

Disagree.

They obviously had very strong feelings on the subject.

So how do the Rams disconnect from the real world?

They happen to be at ground zero for this. The players obviously had strong feelings as well.

If Fisher disciplines the players than other Rams fans from the other side walk away.

No win situation.

The Rams may not have wanted to find themselves here, but they are.

So you don’t buy a Stedman Bailey shirt. Fisher didn’t even know they were doing it.

The whole team didn’t walk out with their hands up.

But if that’s what they gotta do–if they feel that strongly, okay. Quit the Rams. Quit football. Quit sports.

Quit the news covering an angle to the story they don’t want to hear.

Quit any films or movies dealing with it from a sympathetic angle opposite of their own.

Quit it all.

It won’t change anything. But if they feel they’ve made a point–so be it.

I’m staying.

I want to be here when this team is winning their next Superbowl–or at least making the playoffs.

Maybe I just don’t have those strong feelings–I’m not a cop but I can’t imagine how difficult their job is. I don’t envy them at all. But like good and peaceful protestors and idiots who only want to loot stores, there are good cops and bad ones(and by bad they could just be very inept).

I’ve never been black. I can’t imagine the black experience.

I just don’t know about it all.

If people want to walk away, from either side–they’ll do it.

Life goes on.

Football goes on–without them.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11958985/st-louis-rams-give-pregame-salute-ferguson-missouri

Sunday, November 30, 2014
Rams players salute Ferguson
By Nick Wagoner
ESPN.com

ST. LOUIS — Five Rams players used the team’s pregame introductions to offer a show of support for nearby Ferguson before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders.

As the offense was introduced, Rams tight end Jared Cook and receivers Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin stopped near the tunnel and raised their hands in a nod to the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9.

Rams
Members of the Rams raised their arms during pregame introductions as a salute to nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

“We kind of came collectively together and decided we wanted to do something,” Cook said. “We haven’t been able to go down to Ferguson to do anything because we have been busy. Secondly, it’s kind of dangerous down there and none of us want to get caught up in anything.

“So we wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world.”

Earlier this week, the Rams spent time lamenting the fact that there wasn’t much they could do to help right now with the unrest in Ferguson. But Cook said he plans to go to Ferguson once things settle down.

“My sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law — all of them went this past week for Thanksgiving,” Cook said. “They came back and reported to me about the things they saw and what was going on around there. Definitely, I will be making a trip to Ferguson.”

Britt claimed that he and his teammates were not “taking sides” with their display.

“We wanted to show that we are organized for a great cause and something positive comes out of it,” Britt said. “That’s what we hope we can make happen. That’s our community. We wanted to let the community know that we support the community.”

Despite that intention, the St. Louis Police Officers Association released a statement Sunday night decrying the players’ display.

“The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology,” the statement read in part.

“I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” SLPOA business manager Jeff Roorda said in the statement. “Well I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”

Multiple players and coach Jeff Fisher spoke during the week about trying to offer a three-hour or so distraction from what’s happening in their community.

But Cook said that the Rams, who won a 52-0 rout over the Raiders, did not necessarily need to win in order to cause a diversion.

“I wouldn’t consider it necessarily a diversion, because [the unrest in Ferguson] is an important issue as well,” Cook said.

On Sunday, the Rams offered a few other small ways to offer support.

The Rams players, coaches and staff also locked arms during the National Anthem in a sign of support for the community.

In addition, the Rams took some steps to reach out to those affected by the unrest. The team hosted small business owners who lost their businesses to fires and volunteers who helped the ensuing cleanup efforts at the game. The team also ran the PSA at halftime called “St. Louis Stands Together.”

“The organization has been doing those type of things without the intention of getting recognition,” Fisher said. “They’re just doing it to help. I’m just glad that we could put together a great win here today.”

The Rams also planned to play a series of public service announcements featuring Fisher and some players discussing how to build a stronger St. Louis.

Leading up to Sunday, there had been some speculation that the Rams-Raiders game might be moved from the Edward Jones Dome because of the unrest, but the game went on as scheduled with additional security in place.

According to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, the team did, however, explore some contingency plans that included the possibility of playing Sunday or Monday night in nearby NFL cities such as Indianapolis.

Agamemnon wrote:

=====================

“So we wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world.
“My sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law — all of them went this past week for Thanksgiving,” Cook said. “They came back and reported to me about the things they saw and what was going on around there. Definitely, I will be making a trip to Ferguson.”

Britt claimed that he and his teammates were not “taking sides” with their display.

====================================

Britt and Cook seem to have different ideas
about what they were doing.

Demoff and the corporate-spin-experts will
nudge the meme toward the Britt version.
They will like the ‘watered down’ version —
Ie, the ‘we are the world version’.

w
v

It’s very racially charged here in the STL since the events of Aug. 9. A lot of this has to do with how police treat black people. On the other side, police and their supporters feel that police officers are being vilified for protecting themselves against criminals.

This much is certain: The prosecuting attorney’s office did not treat Darren Wilson the same as they would have a poor suspect who couldn’t afford a good defense.

And, guess which side most white people are siding with and which side black people are siding with? The situation has put race under a magnifying glass.

I just had Thanksgiving with some new in-laws and it was the first time we all sat down and broke bread together. I am not kidding you when my new sister-in-law’s father told me that every black person he has ever met is dishonest. And he kept referring to “The Blacks” when talking about how black people can improve their plight. He said the prosecuting attorney is an honest man (as opposed to those dishonest Blacks who said they witnessed the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture).

My feeling is that the grand jury probably followed the law and evidence when coming up with the decision not to indict. But, that doesn’t change the fact that the entire system is rigged against poor black folks in poor black communities.

As for the players who made the gesture coming out for the game, I’m sure they all had their reasons for doing it. I’m sure all of them identify more with those poor black people than the police.

It’s a cultural issue. It’s a racial issue. And, it’s made worse by the looting, which racist white people point to when talking about how police have to deal with these thugs. I feel like it’s obvious, if you watched the paramilitary response to some protesters after the Michael Brown shooting, that police treat people in those neighborhoods differently. They were out there on military vehicles, throwing tear gas, pointing guns at people and their homes, and shooting protesters with rubber pellets. They made every protester out to be a thug, and made themselves targets. That made everything worse from the start. I’m sure those people who said Michael Brown was gunned down for no good reason feel like that could happen to them at any time, and that paramilitary response from police likely just made their feelings even stronger.

So I guess they are done watching the NFL as a whole? Every team had players that stood up and either talk about it to their local media, or did the gestures. Race was always part of it. I feel, if you are a true Rams fan, you would not have an issue with a player or players taking a stance, as long as it is not affecting the play of the game. This was during introductions, not the game itself. By the way, we won the game.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11963218/the-five-st-louis-rams-players-saluted-slain-teenager-michael-brown-sunday-game-not-fined

Monday, December 1, 2014
No fines for Rams players’ salute
ESPN.com news services

The five Rams players who entered the field before Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders in St. Louis with their hands in the air in “don’t shoot” poses will not be fined for their actions, NFL and team sources tell ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

Rams
The Rams players who raised their arms during pregame introductions as a salute to nearby Ferguson, Missouri, will not be fined by the league.

The players had used the team’s pregame introductions to offer a show of support for nearby Ferguson. As the Rams’ offense was introduced, tight end Jared Cook and receivers Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens and Tavon Austin stopped near the tunnel and raised their hands in a nod to the fatal shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. Some witnesses said Brown had his hands up before being shot. Wilson, who is white, testified to the grand jury that Brown had hit him and reached for his gun.

The St. Louis Police Officers Association called for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a “very public apology,” its statement read in part.

“I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” SLPOA business manager Jeff Roorda said in the statement. “Well, I’ve got news for people who think that way: Cops have First Amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”

In response, Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s VP of communications, released a statement Monday: “We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation.”

“We kind of came collectively together and decided we wanted to do something,” Cook said after the Rams’ 52-0 victory. “We haven’t been able to go down to Ferguson to do anything because we have been busy. Secondly, it’s kind of dangerous down there and none of us want to get caught up in anything.

“So we wanted to come out and show our respect to the protests and the people who have been doing a heck of a job around the world.”

Earlier this week, the Rams spent time lamenting the fact there wasn’t much they could do to help with the unrest in Ferguson. But Cook said he plans to go to Ferguson once things settle down.

“My sister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law — all of them went this past week for Thanksgiving,” Cook said. “They came back and reported to me about the things they saw and what was going on around there. Definitely, I will be making a trip to Ferguson.”

Britt said he and his teammates were not “taking sides” with their display.

“We wanted to show that we are organized for a great cause and something positive comes out of it,” Britt said. “That’s what we hope we can make happen. That’s our community. We wanted to let the community know that we support the community.”

Information from ESPN.com Rams reporter Nick Wagoner is included in this report.

St Louis Police Assoc asked the NFL to discipline Rams players for their "hands up" gesture. The NFL says they won't. pic.twitter.com/mnHXINy4El

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) December 1, 2014

zn wrote:

there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” SLPOA business manager Jeff Roorda said in the statement. “Well, I’ve got news for people who think that way

That, perhaps, could have been put better.

Yeah, that does sound like he’s drawing battle lines. Even less diplomatic is reducing the people the Rams players are gesturing to support as “the violent thugs burning down buildings,” and anyone else as “cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns.” Somebody might be tempted to attach a specific racial identity to both of those groups. That’s not likely to smooth things out. It’s best not to speak publicly when you are pissed off.

joemad wrote:

Good to hear that the NFL did not fine the players, I hope the RAMS won’t fine nor suspend them either.

Folks need to remember, the police doesn’t “control” the RAMS, nor does the police “control” the NFL.

Well, i dont think an individual player can be fined
for expressing a political gesture. I mean
everytime a player puts his hand over his heart
during the National Anthem its a political act.
If a player waves a little flag its a political act.
If a player wears a pink ribbon or “supports the troops”
in some way, its a political act. Etc.

w
v

st louis police really should work on repairing their relationship with the community of ferguson. forget about who was right or wrong cuz there is most definitely a distrust of the police in the entire city of st louis that goes far beyond this incident.

or maybe they just don’t give a shit which is unfortunate.