Oops - I accidentally upvoted RobITFC above.

And as for Matthewwylds comment, "... no one that[sic] comes on TWTD is racist..." That is the sort of idiotic trope which necessitates the continuation of the BLM unifying protests. Racism, sexism and homophobia are everywhere in this country.

This country was once a place of freedom//////Kneel if you want and boo if you want

Let's all remember that the players are human being too...

If they want to take a knee and show solidarity with people who feel oppressed, then let them! YOU CANNOT TELL THEM HOW TO FEEL!

Throughout history symbols have been used and miss-used...

But here's what's happening...

Several players in football want to take the knee as an anti-racism symbol. They are being booed for it! That simply appears as though people are booing there anti-racism!!!

If you're against anti-racism, then you are a racist, end of!

If you're against players taking the knee as a sign of anti-racism... then you're missing the point.

I understand that Black Lives Matter (BLM) has a policy agenda which is
1) defund the Police,
2) close the prisons,
3) smash capitalism.

I do not agree with any of that.

Judging by the summer's events, BLM seems to think that the appropriate way of promoting its policy agenda is
1) mass public disorder,
2) assaulting British police officers,
3) wanton damage to public property.

I do not agree with any of that.

It is asserted by some that “asking the knee” is an anti-discrimination gesture that has nothing to do with BLM. If that was true then I would support it. However, for example, I heard a BBC radio news presenter recently describe football players as taking the knee to BLM. It is difficult to make a neat distinction between BLM and the gesture.

If footballers want to address the issue then they should support Kick It Out.

I regard “booing” as unedifying.

ITFCRich Colin Kaepernick protesting against discrimination and police brutality is all about politics. First of all he has made a lot of money off of this situation. Further, you have to look into the facts behind the claims of police brutality and how the facts have been distorted for political gain. Then you have to look at the symbol itself and see that it is a symbol of subserviance and compliance, and then you naturally come to the conclusion that it is a very political gesture.

ipswichbusiness
you must understand that its alright for blacks to kill blacks by the hundreds. It only becomes an issue when a white policeman is involved/

Jugsy that's a horrible bit of Guardian anti-working class propaganda there. It reminds me of other propaganda dehumanizing and ridiculing other groups of people. The cartoonist is clearly pinning their politics to the mast when they say that the poppy is political. Respecting all war dead is a far away as political as you could get. Anti-racism should also be a non-political issue, but it becomes a political issue when it is used as a stick to hit white working-class people with. There is less racism in society than there has ever been and yet there is more empassioned protesting against it than ever. It is still an issue, but it is not on the same scale as when bananas were being thrown on the pitch in the 80s.

mo_itfc , your argument is that we can't tell the players how to feel, but then you turn around and tell supporters how to feel. Do you not see the inconsistency.
It doesn't help at all assuming the worst of people. Forcing people to comply to your views is not a way to bring people together. Let's not demonise reasonable people expressing a different opinion. We should listen to the people taking the knee and take time to listen to their reasons. If we disagree, we can respectfully do that. The problem with football is that fans at a match only have one mode for showing disaproval and you don't know why they are disagreeing with something.
Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether people are saying boo or boo-urns.

We should ALL respect each other, but we don't, that's why BLM, LGBTQi groups and others exist. If players decide on a show of solidarity with a particular group you should respect that right. You don't have to clap but you certainly shouldn't boo, there is a fairly strong case to say that by showing disrespect you are racist by that very nature. In other words if you can't do something nice, shut the f*** up and keep your opinions to yourself, it's not just about you. The political angle is just an excuse!!!!

it's about decency and respect; footballers are kneeling to stand with those who think black lives matter. if you disagree, just keep quiet.

it's the same with minute's silences. if you disagree with them you wouldn't boo or shout during it. respect other people

BLM is a political group.

Taking the knee is synonymous with the politics of this group

Nobody has an issue with equality or the tag line “black life's matter”
People are hiding behind the tag line to promote the political group

I would support anything that isn't synonymous with Blm political group, links arms, sit or anything that isn't promoting this political group

from black lives matter uk, read it before condemning/booing those who kneel

"WE WELCOME ALL - We stand together across the globe to change the world, we kneel together in peace and solidarity asserting black people is treated as equals to white people. It is a human right to receive racial equality, social and criminal justice in the societies we live and to receive parity as full citizens of the country and as a united nation.

We are a non-political, non-partisan, non-violence platform. Some content published on our website may have limited political content by the very nature of a country state governed and under a system of democracy. We operate in a humanitarian capacity and concern before all else.

We are not operating as a member of nor connected with any political party."

Europablue - who decided the meaning of these demonstrations have changed? As far as i'm concerned the football players have maintained the meaning of taking the knee throughout, others have tried to detract from that, not the ones making the gesture. And when did the clapping of the NHS lose purpose? The taking of the knee has been an attempt to be noticed, peacefully, and get people acknowledging and talking about the racial issues in the world. That's one thing I'll give to the booing, that it's brought out more positive voices about what the issues are and starting to show some higher level support (still not enough). There are people who are very willing to try and derail the meaning by claiming it as a political movement. These players aren't promoting a political movement, there's no evidence of that. They are trying to use their platform to highlight the issues in society and incite positive change.

Missed some of your replies Europablue - how is anti-racism not a political issue? The very idea that this isn't an issue that effects everyone and doesn't require political intervention boggles my mind. Society clearly isn't solving it alone.

the kneeling started in the uk partially thanks to our own didzy. this article has a bit more detail on the meaning he intended. read before condemning/booing him

https://www.sheffieldunited.news/news/mcgoldrick-explains-why-black-lives-matter

This thread is a brilliant example of the type of online mob mentality that pervades all forms of political and social discourse and occurs when people dare to question or challenge fashionable perspectives. Suspect that #MeToo is hypocritical virtue signalling by a pampered elite and you are a misogynist. Question the need for BLM based activity in football when there has been a programme like KickItOut running for years and you are a racist. Demur to clap for the NHS on your doorstep and you're some sort of far right Trumpist. Question the efficacy of face masks or ask why 67 million people need to be vaccinated for a virus that is an acute danger to only a fraction of that number and you're some sort of holocaust denying anti vacc weirdo. Faced with this type of angry mob vilification, a huge number of people do exactly what Algarvefan advocates and quietly take a seat on whatever media fuelled bandwagon comes rolling along even though they are privately troubled by what they see happening. Its probably what people did in Berlin when they saw one section of society gradually closed down and persecuted for having the wrong religion. For any libertarian country it should be deeply disquieting that a trend which claims to be driven by tolerance and education becomes one which is profoundly intolerant and ignorant.

Simple...the arm in arm of both teams is a better solution to anti-discrimination and all discrimination as per the Millwall QPR game for matches but BLM kneeling thing has had it's time.

This debate on here has proved why I don't support the blm because if you don't agree with it your deemed a racist which is my point that it is being forced on your average normal white person. Well I don't agree with attacking the police with bricks and bottles, I don't agree with attacking white people who refuse to get on their knee, I don't agree with rioting and looting.so think of me what you want but I will never support this blm movement and its political views.NEVER

...and at last some balanced posts not the vitriol received from my opening post that 'I'm a div,' 'should support Millwall' 'Ashamed' etc. it shows you just how many people jump on the bandwagon though I wasn't being anti-discriminatory.

Nice to see Kikapu rearing his head...got over MM getting the boot yet? :)

If one or small group of players felt it was time to not take the knee, they would be booed as being racist !!!! Freedom of Speach??

Thank you Europablue, your comments are spot on. Hopefully they will educate the well-intentioned on this site and relieve them of their political ignorance.
Similar kudos to IpswichBusiness.

why anyone would have an issue with a gesture that supports equality says more about them than the taking of the knee itself! trying to make the world a better place for everyone means those that have never experienced racial intolerance,homophobic abuse etc need to come out of their comfort bubble and try and put yourself in someone elses shoes...have a bit of EMPATHY or stop reading the gutter right wing rags that poison peoples minds with hate

"Many on the Left fail to acknowledge at all the Marxist roots of the official Black Lives Matter organization, and thus, paint anyone who objects to the organization as racist, unthinkingly inveighing: “How could anyone not support black lives?” This kind of clever naming of a controversial movement, similar to “Antifa” supposedly standing for “anti-fascist,” makes it easy to baselessly paint critics as extreme and immoral. Yet this is a reductive oversimplification that serves only to divide."

https://fee.org/articles/is-black-lives-matter-marxist-no-and-yes/

the article is about BLM USA the group, not the wider movement which mcgoldrick was raising awareness of and standing alongside.

blm uk is expressly non-political, as stated in black and white on its website

"We are a non-political, non-partisan, non-violence platform."

it's fatuous to pretend that footballers in the uk are supporting an american political party which has american-specific aims which have no relevance here (such as american models of funding of the police ) rather than the wider non-partisan movement