Did They Really Think There'd Be No Repercussions?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53145201

[Old_Geezer]

"Do the players even know why they are 'taking the knee'?"

Surely it must be some combination of being told they must, and peer pressure from all sides ? One needs courage to refuse to support this nonsense.

[Ellipsis]

> I'm sure nobody would have flickered an eyelid if a player said ''I will take a knee in support of the black people's struggle with police brutality but I won't sport the slogan of a political movement on my shirt''

Unfortunately, there are two "Black Lives Matters": the organisation and the movement. As clarified by the author of this article:

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https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/how-black-lives-matter-changed-way-americans-fight
An earlier version of this essay inadvertently conflated two important distinctions: Black Lives Matter, the organization, vs. Black Lives Matter, the movement. Black Lives Matter, the organization, is a global decentralized network with over 30 chapters across the world. Black Lives Matter, the movement, is a broad conceptual umbrella that refers to the important work of a wide range of Black liberation organizations. Sometimes referred to as “the Movement for Black Lives,” the achievements of the Black Lives Matter movement would not be possible had it not been for the collective efforts of groups such as Black Youth Project 100, the Dream Defenders, Assata’s Daughters, the St. Louis Action council, Millennial Activists United, and the Organization for Black Struggle, to name just a few. This essay is an attempt to celebrate the movement without attributing the movement’s “achievements” solely to Black Lives Matter, the organization.
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It's misleading to call the Black Lives Matter organisation a political organisation and refer to the politics of its founders. It's more of an activist organisation. The difference? You won't find any candidates running in any election anywhere for the "Black Lives Matter" party, because there isn't one. They're more trying to change the politics of all the other parties.

That said, I'd say the players are supporting the movement, not the organisation. i.e. they're supporting the concept of the dismantling of systemic racism in society.