The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) snapped back after news broke last week that the NFL is donating tons of money to radical groups seeking to defund the police. The NFL's Inspire Change social justice initiative is funding three groups in particular, prompting a justifiably sharp retort from Patrick Yoes, president of the fraternal order.
“I find it incredibly ironic that NFL teams travel and play every week under the protection of local law enforcement,” Yoes tweeted Friday.
Fox News reported last week that NFL Inspire Change awarded substantial funding to the Vera Institute of Justice, the Oregon Justice Resource Center ($300,000) and the Community Justice Exchange. Each of these organizations support defunding or abolishing police departments, Peter Hasson reported. The Community Justice Exchange wants to abolish policing, prisons and immigration enforcement.
Obviously worked up by the NFL’s backstabbing, Yoes said:
“We have officers in stadiums, parking lots, and even on the sidelines to ensure the safety of the players, team personnel, and of course, the fans.
“The NFL pays for this security because they want their venues and attendees to be safe. Now, we learn they are sending thousands of dollars to groups whose mission is to end policing and our justice system. How irresponsible is this? If it weren’t such a serious issue, we would just laugh at them and go about our business. But make no mistake, this is a very serious issue."
The head of FOP went on to say that the U.S. is experiencing unprecedented crime and the NFL is paying for campaigns to keep criminals and offenders on the streets. “Performative displays of wokeness like this are shameful. Maybe Commissioner Goodell should take a timeout and reconsider this decision.”
Yoes says the NFL aims to inspire the wrong kind of change, based on a false, naive narrative that police officers and policing are bad and that crime will go away without the presence of police. He doubts that pro football players will even take the field without police protections. And that fans will not want to attend games that don’t include the security of police present.
The foolish NFL is clearly listening to the wrong people on the issues of police, justice and crime. It’s “on the side of the offenders” instead of crime victims. There are inspiring ways to make positive changes, and this one isn’t it, Yoes says.:
“In fact, rather than supporting efforts to further divide police officers from the communities they protect, the NFL should focus on how to heal the wounds in these communities by collaborating with the FOP to rebuild trust and respect between police officers and the people they serve. To this end, the FOP reached out to the NFL and had several meetings to explore this kind of cooperation, but the NFL ultimately refused.”
Yoes says the NFL is free to do as it wishes, but it ought to do things that make people more safe rather than less safe -- morally and physically. Especially when the NFL is reaping “monstrous profits” while the players perform their skills with the protection of brave police officers.
The NFL went into overdrive on social justice wokeness in the summer of 2020 after the George Floyd murder and Jacob Blake shooting. Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized for not having previously listened to Colin Kaepernick. The groups listed above, which are now gaining NFL support, are also claiming that “white supremacy” in America is systemic. Which is a real slap in the race of the league’s largely white fan base.