Ferguson, the NFL and Audra McDonald

Before August 9th, few people outside of Missouri knew about the suburb of St. Louis called Ferguson. Yet with the shooting of Michael Brown Jr. by police officer Darren Wilson, this suburb of 21,000 was thrust into the international spotlight reinvigorating the national conversation on race. As mostly peaceful protests take place in Ferguson, Chicago, New York, Seattle and the Bay area, people have taken the streets, internet, and national television to share their thoughts on the grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson.

One such peaceful protest occurred on Sunday when NFL players Cook, Austin, Bailey, Britt, and Givens came out during pregame introductions with their arms raised in the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” gesture. That evening the St. Louis Police Officer’s Association requested the NFL to discipline the Ram players who participated in that protest. While the NFL has declined the request, questions of the appropriateness of this very public protest have been raised.

In the context of modern society, the players are both athletes and entertainers. While their venue is a football stadium broadcast directly to millions of TVs every Sunday, they perform the same basic function of traditional entertainers: to hold the attention of their audience with something amusing or diverting. Many entertainers have come out in support of various causes, bringing attention to their causes at their performance venue before or even during a performance without detracting from the experience. At a performance at Hill Auditorium in 2011 Audra McDonald interrupted the performance to speak about marriage equality and anti-bullying. Was there any outcry about this brief tangent? Not that I heard.

As an entertainer on a national scale the athletes are expected to be role models, knowing that people around the country are watching their every move and many strive to emulate their behavior. The backlash that the players received from their peaceful protest stems from disagreement with their stance and the unfamiliarity of football being used to make a political statement or show support for a cause. Regardless of the intense physical requirements of football at the end of the day it is simply one form of entertainment, and for me, the best kind of entertainment always has something to say.