Texans owner Bob McNair has called NFL players inmates

Texans owner Bob McNair has called NFL players inmates

By Byler Henry

      Houston Texans owner Bob McNair has ruffled some feathers with his latest comments. In a meeting with NFL owners about players kneeling for the anthem, he stated, “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

I can understand why some people will get upset after hearing these comments, and many of the Texans players were offended. Most of the players knelt in protest against these comments Sunday before their game against the Seahawks.

Black players roughly make up about 70% of the NFL, and comparing them to inmates for kneeling should not sit well with the players or any other Black person.

What have they done so wrong that they are compared to prisoners? Kneeling during the National Anthem does not deem the players criminals.

What these comments are saying to me is that the players should do what they are told!

In prison, inmates are stripped of their rights and are told what and when to do things. As long as you play in the NFL, you will do what you are told by the owners and be silent.

The NFL is ruling with an iron fist, while the NBA is the complete opposite and allows their players a platform to speak out on issues.

The Texans’ Pro Bowl left tackle, Duane Brown, was just traded to the Seahawks, and he has said that owner Bob McNair’s words sicken him, but he is not surprised because the owner has made insensitive comments on racial issues before. Back in 2008, after President Obama won the election, McNair was quoted as saying, “I know a lot of ya’ll are happy right now, but it’s not the outcome that some of us were looking for.” Brown has said that McNair was visibly upset.

McNair has made two public apologies about his inmates statement saying he didn’t mean it in that way, but I am questioning if he apologized because his statements have been made public?

It seems to me as if he is comfortable with saying this around other NFL owners because he has stated insensitive comments before as it relates to Black people.

It seems as if some of the owners don’t care about anything but protecting the NFL shield and keeping the money flowing into their pockets.

Comments like these made publicly or privately show what some of the owners really think about the players.

If comments like these are made public, what has been said privately that hasn’t gotten out?