Eric Reid calls NFL's anti-racism campaign 'disingenuous,' 'diabolical'
Eric Reid has never been shy in sharing his opinions about commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL’s treatment of Black people, especially when it comes to protesting. That hasn’t changed with the start of the 2020 NFL season, even though Reid remains a free agent.
Following Colin Kaepernick’s tweet on Sunday in which he called the NFL’s anti-racism campaign “propaganda” and accused the league of blackballing Reid, Reid chimed in on Monday with his opinions on the NFL’s campaign. And, well, he’s also not a fan.
Reid: NFL’s campaign is ‘disingenuous’
1/2 What the @NFL is doing is half-hearted at best. @nflcommish has gotten comfortable saying he “was wrong” as if his mere acknowledgement reconciles his admitted wrongdoing. He hasn’t even called Colin to apologize, let alone reconcile, proving this is only PR for the current
— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) September 14, 2020
2/2 business climate. As such, Roger Goodell uses video of Colin courageously kneeling to legitimize their disingenuous PR while simultaneously perpetuating systemic oppression, that the video he’s using fights against, by continuing to rob Colin of his career. It’s diabolical.
— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) September 14, 2020
In his tweets, Reid focused on Goodell and the “disingenuous” public relations plan that he and the NFL have been executing. That plan has included video packages that feature footage of Kaepernick kneeling, and the painting of “End Racism” and “It Takes All Of Us” in the end zones for Week 1.
Reid says that Goodell hasn’t called Kaepernick to apologize for how he was treated by the NFL, even though Goodell has said that he was wrong and now supports player protests during the national anthem. To Reid, this proves that Goodell’s words have no meaning or intent behind them, and he’s saying them only for positive PR.
Reid’s sentiment: Using video of Kaepernick kneeling while still not apologizing to Kaepernick adds only insult to injury, since he still doesn’t have a job in the NFL despite the league’s seeming about-face on protests.
Reid called it “diabolical.”
Kaepernick accuses NFL of blackballing Reid
Reid says that the NFL is still essentially blackballing Kaepernick despite Goodell’s public statements, and Kaepernick accused the NFL of blackballing Reid the day before. (The league reached a financial settlement with the duo in February of 2019 after they accused the NFL and its team owners of blackballing them.)
While the NFL runs propaganda about how they care about Black Life, they are still actively blackballing Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) for fighting for the Black community. Eric set 2 franchise records last year, and is one of the best defensive players in the league. https://t.co/KQXTaOCcnU
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 13, 2020
Carolina released Reid in March. He was in his second season of a three-year contract.
There hasn’t been any chatter about teams being interested in signing him since April. Reid kneeled beside Kaepernick when they were on the San Francisco 49ers together, and has continued to protest over the past two seasons.
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