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Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe Clash Over Colin Kaepernick Joining the Ravens

Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe Clash Over Colin Kaepernick Joining the Ravens

Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe Clash Over Colin Kaepernick Joining the Ravens

Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe Clash
Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe

Ray Lewis & Shannon Sharpe Clash Over Colin Kaepernick

It seems like the saga surrounding Colin Kaepernick Joining the Ravens has been going on for years but it has not been a complete year yet. For those of you who are unaware of what is going on, at the beginning of last football season, it was noted that Colin Kaepernick was seated during the singing or playing of the national anthem.

He had actually done this for a couple of games before but it had gone widely unnoticed, but once it the press became aware of it, they took it and ran with it, rapidly transforming it into a national issue. It was a personal protest that the press made into something much more.

Over the course of the season, Colin would be maligned, scrutinized and degraded for his stand, but he refused to budge. He declared that he was taking a stand against police brutality in this nation, especially as it pertains to the treatment of Blacks.

He would go on to have losing season where he threw for 16 touchdowns and only four interceptions, which is acceptable and better than several free agent quarterbacks that were signed to teams during this offseason.

During this period, Colin Kaepernick has been ostracized by the league, with no team being willing to sign him.

Based on recent development in which Joe Flaco hurt his back, the need for a viable backup surfaced and with the Baltimore Ravens having a Black general manager, Ozzie Newsome, Colin Kaepernick was immediately thrust into the conversation, but unfortunately, the teams owner, Steve Bisciotti was not keen on Colin joining the team, so he put on a huge show and press conference to give the appearance that he was really considering Colin Kaepernick, when the truth is he was simply creating the excuse for not signing him.

Ray Lewis was brought on Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless to discuss why he was brought in and the opportunity or Colin Kaepernick. As expected, Ray Lewis did everything in his power to avoid the real issue and divert attention away from police brutality. He did not want to talk about Freddie Gray, a man who died at the hands of Baltimore Police and the tone that his death set in that city. He wanted to talk about the inner-city violence.

It is important to understand that inner-city violence is a huge issue, but it does not justify or negate the impact of police aggression towards Blacks or the fact that police officers who kill unarmed Black men are never brought to justice. As a race and collective, we must possess the capacity to deal with these issues simultaneously and with great intensity.

What we cannot lose sight of in the forthcoming discussions surrounding Colin Kaepernick is that this is larger than him. It is bigger than football. This is about understanding that the white power structure is not concerned with Black issues. We must gain a lucid and comprehensive perspicacity of where we stand in the socioeconomic infrastructure of this nation. Subsequently, we must develop clearly focused spending agendas that will allow us to redirect our money in ways that will provide the economic foundation that facilitates our growth of power and mobility in this nation and abroad.

With Black spending power currently standing at $1.3 trillion and rapidly approaching $1.4 trillion (by 2020), we are in a position to redirect these funds to residential development and business development in a manner that will protect our communities against gentrification efforts — something that will help us address the enigmatic issue of serial forced displacement.

We create spending strategies that will support the holistic and dynamic education and support of Black youth to ensure that our children are empowered, equipped and prepared to enter into the world and compete. We need to focus on funding our autonomy so that we will no longer have to look to others outside of ourselves to help us deal with our own issues.

Make no mistake about it, this is the beginning of a Black revolution. ~ Rick Wallace, Ph.D., Psy.D.

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To book Dr. Wallace, email info@theodysseyproject21.com

 

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