Thank God I am not Trump's PR person, and can we get past anthem protests and move towards some uniting solutions?

Here it is Sunday, and the weekend escape from the grind of the week is now being thrust to new politicized heights. Kneeling or standing, angst or no angst. ARGH!!!

The most thankless job on planet earth may not be a roll of toilet paper, it is very likely being Trump’s PR team. Whether you like his politics or not, his inability to simply be ‘presidential’ and not get dragged into the street/gutter to fight on every single topic, is beyond tiring. God only knows, how you try and approach someone who simply cannot under any circumstance be quiet and cannot help but lay verbal landmines everywhere people walk.

I know some Trump fan friends will say I am siding with the media, well, I am not, I am just tired. Please Donald, just be quiet, for once. Put the phone down for a few days, go have some private time with Melania and just let society handle this anthem protest issue. Your brand of leadership is to pour gas and fire into the mix, because you HAD to have a take. Just please, let us handle this. Go take care of Little Rocket Man, get Congress working on…something, and leave the rest of this to us.

I understand your faith in the American people is shaky. I must admit, give how we have politics at work, we have politicized every aspect of our public education system, we have politicized taking a piss and a dump, we have politicized baking cakes, but we don’t need you adding to the list. 

Hopefully we can agree employers are allowed to delineate a clear code of conduct expected of their employees (see Google guy's blog on gender issues for example). The NFL is trying to determine the best way to handle anthem protests. Personally, I like the approach of the teams, letting them decide and not having a blanket policy. Best yet, I like the Steelers approach: just stay in the locker room and leave the politics of who is up and who isn’t, out of it. Ultimately I like them deciding on their own, because if it is a reason people are coming or not coming to games, they will bear the economic benefit or brunt of their choice (hint: exactly as it should be).

I admit, I don’t like the kneeling. I think ultimately Colin Kaepernick’s idea was slightly off target. As I understand it, I think the issue he and others have is systemic bias by police, not bias by the military or as a national platform. He just pulled a Trump, and threw a grenade to get attention. He chose a very public and passionate forum: the national anthem. It was his soapbox. He knew it would spark controversy and get him attention and it did.

Mission Accomplished. He made it a topic of everyday conversation. Now sadly, the issue is all over the pre-game analysis and news for football. 

Here is my beef with his protest though: it isn’t solving or changing anything, it has in fact become an issue all of its own. We are discussing the right and wrong aspect of the act itself, and nothing has been proposed a solution to the issues which he is saying led to the protest, and so we ratchet more and more angst, animus and animosity either for or against the act of the protest itself. As Sam Kinison screamed often, “UGH! UGH!! ARGH!”

Let us move beyond all this and forward. Please, let a respected retired group of players (Barry Sanders, Peyton Manning, Ray Lewis – I’m just spitballing here) meet with a group of recently retired police officers from a variety of areas of the country and discuss the nature of the real issue.

I work with cops. I have never had any of them, ever, come to work and say I can’t wait to go out and shoot someone today, or arrest a bunch of minorities or anything of the like, ever! They want to simply make the community a safer place and take criminals off the streets.

What can we do to eliminate any systemic bias? More community policing? Better training? More oversight of arrests and stops? Body cameras? Harsher punishments for abusing the power of the shield? We need ideas, lots of them, and good ones. The one thing I truly cannot stand is outcry and complaining for outcry and complaining sake. Give us some feedback here. I cannot fathom that I am alone in this feeling. 

No human being in America should ever have to “plan” for the inevitable traffic stop or police interaction just because they fall into a non-white demographic. That is a serious problem. That is real. Nor should those stopped decide that is the one moment to show their outrage, angst and not comply. That is not the time. 

It is also very real that an overwhelming majority of law enforcement is also outraged at the actions of the racist/bully/bigoted/corrupt few. Now is the time for them to step forward too, and offer suggestions on a common ground, reasoned solution.

There is a HUGE middle ground where reform and justice and intersect and we can all have peace. I know it is there, or else our world is beyond doomed. And I do not and cannot believe that. 

So, I reiterate, please step up and offer realistic, valid solutions to the problems out there, even if they are not your problems, but you have a take. Please ensure they are productive ideas. Saying we should have no police is idiotic. Saying we should live in black states, white states, Hispanic states is even dumber, and racist. Saying it doesn't exist is ignoring reality.  We can all live together, or we will all die alone. It is literally that simple. 

Racism and bias still exist.  It is also nowhere near like it was 50 years ago. But the work isn’t done yet. Every side will have to contribute to solving the problem. Throwing blame and guilt around like a playground game of “You’re it” isn’t going to inspire anyone to help. I am stepping off now, it is time to go watch some sports. The only debate over kneeling I will see is to run the clock, and the only protests I will see are over bad officiating. You know, football.

Followup: I saw an article today that referenced a meeting of a players group with the Commissioner and some leaders in Philadelphia discussing police-community relations and criminal justice reform.  While I don't know from that article what ideas were discussed, it does sound a little like progress, moving on from theatrics and social expression towards the real crux of the issue.  I sure hope to see more stories like this.