By Perry Green, AFRO Sports Editor
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been on the hot seat with Blacks folks after recently telling the media that his team would be required to stand during the playing of the National Anthem, regardless of what rules or policies the NFL implements.
Now, Cowboys star quarterback Dak Prescott may find himself in the same hot seat with the African-American community after echoing Jones’ disdain for players choosing to peacefully protest racism and police brutality in the U.S. by kneeling during playing of the anthem before each game.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott takes questions from the media after the morning walk through practice during NFL training camp, Friday, July 27, 2018, in Oxnard, Calif. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)
Prescott, one of only six African-American quarterbacks actively starting in the league, told reporters over the weekend that he doesn’t plan on defying Jones’ orders, explaining how that style of controversial protest just isn’t his way of doing things.
“I never protest,” Prescott told the Dallas News. “I never protest during the anthem, and I don’t think that’s the time or the venue to do so.” https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboys/2018/07/27/dak-prescott-plans-national-anthem-never-protest-anthem-dont-think-time-venue
Prescott said the NFL has always been a means of release for people dealing with personal problems so protesting at games takes away from that.
“The game of football has always brought me such peace, and I think it does the same for a lot of people—a lot of people playing the game, a lot of people watching the game, a lot of people who have any impact of the game—so when you bring such controversy to the stadium, to the field, to the game it takes away from that,” Prescott said. “It takes away from the joy and the love that football brings a lot of people.”
Prescott wasn’t the only Black star player for Dallas to say he won’t be kneeling this coming football season. Cowboys Pro Bowl running back Ezekiel Elliott told a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter that it was a team decision to stand during the anthem.
“Us as a team, we chose to stand together for the anthem. It was our decision,” Elliott said, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter Clarence Hill Sr. “I think it just shows our culture. It shows that we have unity. We’re going to stand as one. But we’re the Dallas Football Cowboys. We stand for the national anthem.” https://twitter.com/clarencehilljr/status/1023037004655689729?s=20
The NFL had introduced a new rule, restricting players from kneeling during the playing of the anthem back in May, but recently put any enforcing of the rule “on hold” to continue discussing resolution.
