Say Something Real

By Michelle Bryant

Michelle Bryant

As another NFL season unfolds, the familiar rhythms of the game echo across living rooms and stadiums. But for me, the screen remains dark. I haven’t watched a single NFL game since the league effectively blackballed Colin Kaepernick for daring to kneel in protest of racial injustice. That act of courage, taking a knee for Black lives, cost him his career and exposed the NFL’s deeply embedded issues with race, silence, and power. Yet, here I am, wrestling with conflicted emotions as I find myself quietly rooting for Shedeur Sanders, a young African-American quarterback trying to find his footing in a league that has a long history of mistreating players who look like him.

I won’t pretend it’s easy to turn away from football. The NFL

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