ESPN's Paul Finebaum: "This Country Is Not Oppressing Black People"

The most commonly-espoused criticism of Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest has centered on his method of protest rather than the injustices he takes issue with. Paul Finebaum does not count himself among this crowd.

On his radio show Monday, Finebaum came right out and said, “This country is not oppressing black people.”

Via Awful Announcing:

Finebaum then joined Joey Galloway, Molly McGrath, and David Pollack on College Football Live yesterday and he reiterated his claims. After making vague noises about how Kaepernick is free to do what he wants, he made sure to point out how disrespectful he felt Kaepernick was being. Galloway called him out for failing to address the actual substance of the QB’s complaints, and after some unproductive flapping about protests that are and are not properly respectful to Paul Finebaum, he got to the core of his argument:

Usually people protest when they’ve been oppressed, when they have a legitimate stake in the action. I don’t know where Colin is coming from. What’s his beef with society, other than he’s upset with how, in his mind, people are being oppressed in this country?

You can watch the whole segment here:

Finebaum mostly scowled and tried to talk over Galloway, but Galloway made a very good point about the misplaced concern on Kaepernick’s propriety ( via AA):

“I think again you’re getting into that place where it feels like you’re deciding for other people when is the right time, how they should do it, and then how you feel about the reactions they had, as in ‘Okay, I agree with this one, but I disagree with that one.’ The key is we’re in a country where you have the right to protest in your own way, and if that’s the way you feel about what you’re doing, then you have the right to do that. And whether or not I agree and think your issue is right and the way that you handle your issue is right, I don’t understand why that becomes important as opposed to ‘Let’s look at the reason why this protest is going on, is that something we should be discussing?’ And I do believe that what he’s talking about is something that should be discussed.”

[ Awful Announcing]

h/t Fennis