The NFL admits its mistake for “not listening” to anti-racist protests from its players.

* The commissioner of the National League of American Football makes a gesture in the midst of a wave of demonstrations in the U.S. 

* In 2016, the player who protested kneeling when the hymn sounded, Kaepernick, ended up being expelled

In the midst of a wave of demonstrations in the United States, the top leader of the National Football League (NFL) has admitted that the organization was not sensitive to the players who denounced racism and police brutality in recent years, a still not explicit recognition of the grievance suffered particularly by Colin Kaepernick.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell posted a video this Friday night (Saturday morning in Spain) in response to a request from some of the most prominent players of the most popular sport in the US in which they asked their leaders to apologize for their lack of sensitivity to the protests anti-racist.

We admit that we were wrong not to listen to NFL players before and encourage all players to speak and protest peacefully.

Goodell says, "We, the National Football League, condemn racism and systematic oppression of African-Americans. We, the National Football League, admit that we were wrong not to listen to NFL players before and encourage all players to speak and protest peacefully. We, the National Football League, believe that the lives of African Americans matter."

In the short message on social media, translated by Efe, he promised dialogue with committed players and made a historic recognition: "Without African-American players there would be no National Football League, and professionals across the country are emblematic of centuries of silence, inequality and oppression of African-American players. coaches, amateurs and staff."

A day earlier, the open receiver of the Saints of New Orleans, Michael Thomas, one of the main organizers of the players' video, had urged the NFL to take sides. "It's been 10 days since George Floyd was brutally murdered (...) What if I was George Floyd?" , he said along with a dozen other football figures, including Drew.

Floyd, an African-American who in his youth also practiced the sport, died after a white police officer in Minnepolis crushed his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer has been charged with murder in the second degree and since then the most important demonstrations in the United States against racism in recent decades have taken place.

On the streets, one of the most repeated gestures is to imitate what he did in 2016 by former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, when he decided to do so to protest police violence against minorities while the American anthem was playing before starting a match.

That rebellion, which was supported by many African American players in the league, created at the same time a great deal of controversy among the country's conservative sectors and ultimately caused Kaepernick to be expelled from the League, which banned and fined that gesture (which has now been replicated by athletes from other competitions around the world for solidarity with the cause).

In his statement, Commissioner Roger Goodell does not specifically cite the former San Francisco 49ers, who was once again despised by the NFL a few months ago when, following an agreement between the two that avoided the courts, he organized a training campus for the franchises to see Kaepernick's work and give him a chance. Nobody took the step forward.

On the other hand, Michael Jordan and Jordan Brand (its trademark) have pledged $100 million over 10 years to national organizations "dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education".

"Black lives matter. This is not a controversial statement," read in a joint statement by Jordan and his company, a subsidiary of Nike.