The debate over whether or not players should take a knee during the national anthem is distracting us from "what's really happening," according to former NBA commissioner David Stern.
Colin Kaepernick started the demonstration, kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism, oppression, and police brutality against black people. Several other players have joined him in protest. President Donald Trump and other detractors have demanded that the players stand, citing that they're disrespecting the flag, the country, and the military. Stern says there's a simple way this issue could've been solved, and it's distracting the nation from more important subjects.
"This whole thing is a distraction," Stern said on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "And what it's distracting from is the fact that Puerto Rico is ravaged, we've got a horrible situation with fire [in California] and flood [in Puerto Rico], and we've got our national parks that are being opened up to drilling and to mining and to commercial exploitation, and the head of the EPA thinks that we should all breathe dirty air and drink bad water."
"The country, and particularly the news outlets are consumed by the subject what you must do. And the answer is, we had a rule, someone didn't follow it and I asked him to not come out on the court without being prepared to stand. He said 'no' and under the rules, he was suspended for a day, for a game, and then the next game he came out and stood." Stern continued. "It would've been great if someone had a similar rule in the NFL, suspended them, it would have been better for Mr. Kaepernick than the current situation is."
"Everyone takes the bait of the president throwing this junk out to distract them from what's really happening in this country," he said. "We put the rules in place and then we enforce the rules. It's not a question of freedom of expression or the first amendment, it's just a question of collective bargaining and the enforcement of rules under the agreement. It's a non-issue except for the president's tweets."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NFL owners, and the NFLPA recently held a meeting and decided not to enact a rule that would force the players to stand during the anthem. They will instead work with the players on fixing the social issues affecting their communities.
