Marshawn Lynch I say to your coaches, the owners, and the fellow players who are too cowardly to pull your spoiled butt off the bench during the playing of our National Anthem ….” I QUIT THE NFL ” … I watch college football.

I have had it with spoiled NFL players disrespecting America, and all those who have fought and died for their many freedoms, which include playing professional football for millions of dollars. When NFL players kneel, squat, or sit….it says to all the fans, kids and people around the world… “I believe our country is a racist place where minorities are kept down”.

America is not perfect, but it is a free country where people can work, live, travel, make a fortune, or just enjoy life. Marshawn Lynch when you sit during our National Anthem you are doing an advertisement to the world that says “America is bad, evil, no equality for all, a place where minorities are kept down, where life is unfair”. That is the lie you send out, not just to NFL football fans, but to all people around the world. Our enemies even use your protests to gain advantage and to build propaganda.

You know Marshawn Lynch America has treated you just fine. Your current net worth is over $30,000,000. dollars. Your current NFL salary is listed as $1,350,000.dollars per year. That is for a season that lasts less than six months. Your other income from commercials, advertising, and endorsements puts you even higher I am sure, probably pushes you up into the stratosphere of incomes.

You went to the University of California Berkeley, which is one of the top five academic schools in America, my alma mater also. We went to the same school Marshawn. I served in the United States Army for 29 years. I am not even going to list my net worth…it is not based on dollars either. You know I served with guys who paid the total price…Blacks, Whites, Asians, American Indians, Christians, Jews, Muslims…. men and women from all races, creeds, and backgrounds. They believed that while our country was not perfect it was free, and it was worth giving their all, even to die, so their loved ones and fellow Americans might stay free.

Your protest should shame you and the uppity football league called the NFL. The NFL stands for  “National Football League “.  Kind of funny to me…it should be called the “UFL ” for “Unfair Football League”. Nothing National about the NFL. It is all about the money, and the players lucky enough to get there should not be sitting on their asses during the playing of the National Anthem. You want to protest do so off the field. That anthem, before the game,….it means a lot to many Americans, Americans less fortunate than you, but who understand what freedom is, and what it is not.

You know what an E-6 Sergeant makes yearly Marshawn Lynch? Take a good look…. $40,896.00. When you add all the other percs, such as BAQ and medical, they may make $50,000.00, dollars a year. So think about this…you are protesting the unfairness of our country because we have a small number of racist fools while our military men and women are risking their lives training, preparing, moving from family on deployments, and serving in combat zones. They do this why? So you can pipe out a message to the world  “America sucks…it is unfair….it is racist” !

Marshawn Lynch have you ever asked yourself why 75% of the people on the planet would move to America in a “New York Minute”, given the chance? Did you ever wonder on that one? I bet it must be because the rest of the world is really fair, and really free, right?  No Marshawn, the rest of the world is not free, fair, or without racism and prejudice. You want to protest Marshawn go to Africa, India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia….there are some really bad places. There are many countries where minorities, gays, women, and children are abused, kept down, and murdered ….where life is cheap and freedom is non-existent.  Next vacation Marhsawn skip the Bahamas, tag along with our troops in Afghanistan and learn about the real world.

My advice to you is to start giving hope and positives to people, including the minority communities. Use your platform to build up not tear down, unite not divide, encourage not discourage. Marshawn when you sit on your fat, rich, ass during the playing of the National Anthem you do not give people hope…you give them despair…and the sad thing is you are telling them a lie.  You tell them the game is rigged, they cannot make it. You convey to them they should have doubt, fear, despair, and hate.

Marshawn because a group of white racists hold a march and create a riot does not make America a racist country. America is not a perfect nation. It never was, but we have always strived as a people to become better, to make our country a place of opportunity and freedom for all. Looks like it has worked for you?

As for the NFL….the league evidently thinks it cannot interfere with players rights to protest during the playing of the National Anthem but they have no problem keeping them from celebrating in the end zone after touch downs. I say they show some real cowardly behavior. Personally, if I were the owner of the Oakland Raiders, I would fire you and any player who protests during the National Anthem.

No player should be bigger than the team, or the league. No football fan watches the game to see players push politics. Fans want to enjoy sports and escape the grind of their lives. You guys just don’t get it.

I QUIT THE NFL … watch college games… join the protest.

Michael Hawke