Column: Why do whites oppose the NFL protests?

[MountCleaners]

35. The two white conservatives I know

(yes my social circle is very narrow and normally I can't stomach being around them, but in this case, they're people who married into my family) actually support the players. So there is hope. The one guy is a former Marine, and ultraconservative and normally drives me nuts but when I talked to him about police brutality, he had some surprisingly progressive views. He doesn't worship the police like so many right-wingers and he thinks that Black Lives Matter and the NFL players have a point. It's funny how conservatives are all about "limited government" unless the government is targeting people and assaulting and even killing them.

The other guy said that watching football made him uncomfortable because the owners are mostly white and the players are majority black and that the relationship reminded him of slavery.

Of course, both of these guys live in urban areas where lots of contact with black co-workers and neighbors makes them more likely to heed and respect their viewpoints.

Yeah, there is pushback, but the NFL protests are great in that they add a great deal of legitimacy to the cause and people can see that this isn't some fringe thing.