On Sunday afternoon, players from the St. Louis Rams exited the locker room prior to the game giving a “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture to show support for the people of Ferguson. Afterwards, there was talk of whether the players should have been disciplined for their actions, and of course there was the whole thing with the St. Louis County PD and Rams COO Kevin Demoff disagreeing over what constitutes an apology. To offer a fresh perspective, we turn to, who else, Mike Ditka, who recently spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times about the subject.
Mike, should the players have been disciplined for their impromptu gesture?
“It’s a shame this thing has come to this. The shame of it is, I’m not sure they care about Michael Brown or anything else. This was a reason to protest and to go out and loot. Is this the way to celebrate the memory of Michael Brown? Is this an excuse to be lawless? Somebody has to tell me that. I don’t understand it. I understand what the Rams’ take on this was. I’m embarrassed for the players more than anything. They want to take a political stand on this? Well, there are a lot of other things that have happened in our society that people have not stood up and disagreed about.”
I suppose that’s true. Then again, I’m not going to tell someone what they should or shouldn’t protest. If you’re passionate about something, share your feelings. And if you’re not, then don’t.
Ditka then continued with his general thoughts on how tough a job police officers have, as well as his specific thoughts on Darren Wilson.
“I wasn’t in Ferguson. I don’t know exactly what happened. But I know one thing: If we dismantle and limit the power of our policemen any more than we have already, then we’re going to have a lot of problems in this country. What do you do if someone pulls a gun on you or is robbing a store and you stop them? I don’t want to hear about this hands-up crap. That’s not what happened. I don’t know exactly what did happen, but I know that’s not what happened. This policeman’s life is ruined. Why? Because we have to break somebody down. Because we have to even out the game. I don’t know. I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just old fashioned.”
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for his next topic.
