Masculinity gets thrown around a lot in the NFL because players think that they have to approach everything as big strong men. They believe that their brute force is the only thing they have to offer the world, and they feel their masculinity challenged if they are accused of not being patriotic. A white guy in the NFL who puts a hand on the shoulder of a kneeling teammate is literally doing nothing. That is effectively the same as endorsing racism and bigotry because you are not even willing to do something as simple and kneel for two and a half minutes.
Now we have a white player donating his whole salary for this year to worthy causes. This is what a man looks like.
The donations matter
Chris Long has the money to give, and he has shown over the course of this year that he is not willing to stand back and allow racism and bigotry to go on. He was very vocal about the Charlottesville protest, and he has been front and center in the issue of the national anthem protest. This guy is willing to take a knee, and he is willing to give his money to help others. We see so many players not willing to do anything that would really help people, but these donations matter. They matter because other players might do the same thing.
Shame the players into action
If you are a white player who cannot even take a knee for the anthem, you have to be looking at Chris Long and fuming because he is making you look bad. He is going to get all the press, and he is going to be lauded for doing the right thing. if you are a white player who has not done anything yet, you need to give some money like Long has done so that you can keep up with him.
He is challenging your manhood, and I hope that you take the challenge.
The NFL needs to follow suit
The NFL needs to start giving all fine money to social justice causes only. They can see Chris Long making them look bad because they do not even want someone to kneel for a song, and now they have players giving away their money to help people who are impacted by injustice in America.
Roger Goodell is a publicity hound, and I hope he wants to start making donations to be sure that his league can be in the spotlight as having given as much as possible. They probably want to get all the credit for the money they are giving, and they can have it if they will give up with they have to others who need it most.
Alejandro Villanueva, Jerry Jones, and the lot of detractors need to take a lesson from Chris Long and do the right thing.
