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http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/police-group-wants-rams-players-disciplined-for-hands-up-gesture/article_aac1b733-ad65-5b54-a60b-7c616baef983.html
RAMS PROTEST
Police group wants Rams players disciplined for ‘Hands Up’ gesture; NFL declines
6 hours ago • By Jim Thomas jthomas@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8197UPDATED at 5:35 p.m. with Fisher saying players will not be disciplined by team.
ST. LOUIS • After releasing a scathing statement criticizing Rams players who made a “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” pose as they came out of the tunnel for Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders, officials with the St. Louis police officers union have met with team officials and now don’t want to discuss the matter publicly.
St. Louis Police Officer Association business manager Jeff Roorda said the group will continue to meet in hopes of reaching some solution.
“We feel strongly that they better understand our perspective and the perspective of the law-abiding citizens that support law enforcement,” Roorda said. “We’re going to continue these conversations later this week and … we’re going to hold off on any further public comments in the hopes that fruitful talks continue.”
Roorda said St. Louis police Chief Sam Dotson also attended the meeting, and that Rams officials spoke earlier in the day with St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar.
Meanwhile, at his regular Monday media session, coach Jeff Fisher declined to take questions on the “Hands Up” gesture made by the players.
“It’s my personal opinion, and I firmly believe, that it’s important that I keep sports and politics separate,” Fisher said. “I’m a head coach. I’m not a politician, an activist, or an expert on societal issues. So I’m gonna answer questions about the game.”
Fisher said all questions on the topic should be directed to Rams vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff. Demoff could not be reached immediately for comment.
Fisher said he has not spoken with the five players who made the “Hands Up” gesture, but will. He said the players “made the choice to exercise their free speech (Sunday).”
Fisher also said he will not discipline any of the players.
The players who made the now-familiar “Hands Up” gesture included Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Kenny Britt, Jared Cook and Chris Givens. They hatched the idea before the game.
“Kenny Britt told me he was doing it, and some of the other guys were doing it,” Cook said. “So we all just hopped on the bandwagon and came up with the idea of how we were going to do it.”
On Sunday, Fisher said he didn’t see the gesture and was unaware of it.
“I didn’t know anything about it. I was still in the tunnel,” Fisher said.
Britt said he didn’t want to bother Fisher before the game by telling him of the plans.
The “Hands Up” gesture has been used by protesters upset over the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown. Britt said it wasn’t used by the receivers as an indication that they were taking sides.
“No, not at all,” Britt told reporters. “ … We just wanted to let the (Ferguson) community know that we support them.”
The St. Louis Police Officer Association criticized the players’ action in a statement Sunday night, saying it was “profoundly disappointed” in the gesture. Roorda said “it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.”
The St. Louis Police Officers Association has called on the NFL to publicly apologize and discipline the five Rams players who stood with their hands raised before Sunday’s game. Roorda was set to meet with the Rams Monday afternoon to discuss the issue.
The officers’ association released a statement Sunday that said it was “profoundly disappointed” with the players, whose gesture it considered “tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.”
“I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights,” Roorda said. “Well, I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy gave a one-sentence response. “We respect and understand the concerns of all individuals who have expressed views on this tragic situation,” he said in an email Monday.
Cook, of the Rams, said something has to change in terms of relations between police officers and African-Americans.
“Whatever happened from both sides, there has to be some kind of change,” Cook said. “That’s not cool, you know. I think President (Barack) Obama said it best: People aren’t coming up with these complaints for no reason. People aren’t saying these things just to make it up.”
In the wake of the grand jury decision not to charge Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Brown, and the subsequent arson and looting, Fisher discussed the situation during a team meeting Wednesday.
Several Rams players indicated during the week that they hoped to “win one for Ferguson” against the Raiders. The response Sunday was a 52-0 victory, the second-most lopsided victory in Rams franchise history.
“I think that the store owners that were looted, you feel for them and what they’re going through,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said. “You feel for the kids that had school canceled. You just want things to get back to normal as soon as possible.
“However long that road is, hopefully today for three and whatever hours was kind of a little bit of relief so people could just take their minds off of the situation and enjoy some Rams football.”
The Associated Press and Joe Holleman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Agamemnonsnowman wrote:
Here’s my two cents.Unless you own your own business or are retired, you work for someone, for an employer. That employer has rules of conduct when the employee is representing the organization. These players could have expressed their feelings on the subject privately, as Steadman Bailey, as Tavon Austin, etc… but they chose to do it publicly, while at work, as Saint Louis Rams. They should have run this past their boss, Coach Fisher, before doing it because this reflects on their employer and on the league. IMO, they were selfish and perhaps grandstanding by doing it during game introductions. If I were Fisher, I would chew their asses for not consulting him before doing it and privately apologize to the Saint Louis Police Association. This probably involves Stan Kroenke too as the owner of the business.
Did Kurt Warner ask for permission from DV and Georgia F. when he thanked Jesus after winning SB 34?
It’s known that teams are OK with religious gestures because it plays well to the crowd, even though it’s absurd to say so. I guess Andre Dyson feels God hates him, right?
Oh, I should clarify that teams are OK with Christian religious gestures.
“At any rate, what is the ‘point’ of telling Demoff
or Fisher they are gonna give a salute to the troops,
or pray, or give the hands up gesture ? What is
the point of informing the boss about that?I mean, i know they can if they want to, but
why should they feel ‘obligated’ to ?”I guess the “point” would be simply a matter of courtesy. I don’t believe anyone said that the players had any obligation to inform team of their intentions. I do, however, feel that it would have been a show of courtesy and respect for the organization from which you draw your millions of dollars to give them a heads up. We’re talking about a two way street here. The team has had the players’ backs since the event. At least publicly. Would it be too much too expect that the players might give that same consideration? And, for that matter, their actions could prove to have repercussions for their teammates as well. Teammates that had no part of their actions or even knew of it. Would it be too much to suggest that the five players simply take into consideration what consequences their actions could have on their employers or their teammates and weigh the advisability of those actions? Media outlets around the country and many fans (I’ve had conversations with many who know that I am a Rams’ fan) are not separating the actions of five players from the team. It was the St. Louis Rams that did it. No one is arguing their right to do what they did. But I don’t think it is an outrageous notion that they could’ve shown their employer and teammates a little more respect and consideration than to draw them unknowingly into their protest.
HighPlainsDrifter wrote:
“At any rate, what is the ‘point’ of telling Demoff
or Fisher they are gonna give a salute to the troops,
or pray, or give the hands up gesture ? What is
the point of informing the boss about that?
I mean, i know they can if they want to, but
why should they feel ‘obligated’ to ?”I guess the “point” would be simply a matter of courtesy. I don’t believe anyone said that the players had any obligation to inform team of their intentions. I do, however, feel that it would have been a show of courtesy and respect for the organization from which you draw your millions of dollars to give them a heads up. We’re talking about a two way street here. The team has had the players’ backs since the event. At least publicly. Would it be too much too expect that the players might give that same consideration? And, for that matter, their actions could prove to have repercussions for their teammates as well. Teammates that had no part of their actions or even knew of it. Would it be too much to suggest that the five players simply take into consideration what consequences their actions could have on their employers or their teammates and weigh the advisability of those actions? Media outlets around the country and many fans (I’ve had conversations with many who know that I am a Rams’ fan) are not separating the actions of five players from the team. It was the St. Louis Rams that did it. No one is arguing their right to do what they did. But I don’t think it is an outrageous notion that they could’ve shown their employer and teammates a little more respect and consideration than to draw them unknowingly into their protest.
This is pure conjecture because I obviously don’t know what was going through the minds of those 5 players, how long beforehand it was premeditated, and what, exactly, they thought they were doing, but I just don’t think they expected it to become this…Thing.
And – I may be wrong – but I suspect that if the St. L PD hadn’t complained about it publicly, that it WOULDN’T have become this…Thing.
As for people who think it’s The St. Louis RAMS who did that, and that it was “in support of thuggery” and so on…well, they aren’t trying very hard to exercise critical thinking on the issue, are they? Seriously.
It doesn’t make any difference because all those people who are experiencing the Outrage D’Jour will be distracted by the next squirrel to dart across the headlines, anyway.
Really, I think this whole thing is blown way out of proportion by the police department and a gaggle of Side With Authority types. Nothing happened on Sunday other than the Rams slaughtered the Raiders 52 – 0.
I agree with that, Zooey
Agamemnon
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