From Jim Metrock: Channel One News wants American school kids to equate Colin Kaepernick with the civil rights icon Rosa Parks. The producer at Channel One wrote this script with a clear bias in favor of the unemployed, National Anthem-protesting athlete. Channel One chose to include a line that unnamed “fans” compared the millionaire Kaepernick to the Civil Rights hero.
From Channel One’s middle school transcript August 25, 2017:
Okay, next up, there is also a storm brewing in the NFL as many players continue kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustices. But, Arielle, this type of protest isn’t anything new, right?
Arielle: Not at all, Keith. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was one of the first to be publicized for doing this, and now some people are playing defense on his behalf. Take a look.
This week, hundreds of people rallied outside of the NFL headquarters in New York to show their support for Colin Kaepernick.
Woman: We believe Colin Kaepernick deserves a job!
Arielle: The former San Francisco 49er led his team to the Super Bowl in 2013 but now can’t seem to land a job after his high-profile sideline protest last season. The 29-year-old said he knelt during the national anthem to call attention to racial inequality and police brutality.
Colin Kaepernick: We have a lot of people that aren’t treated equally, aren’t given equal opportunities.
Arielle: And though other NFL players have done the same thing, including some white players, protestors say Kaepernick is the one being punished.
Kamaal Bittle: Because he exercised his constitutional right, now they’re penalizing him. We all know that.
Arielle: At the rally fans compared Colin Kaepernick to civil rights heroes like Rosa Parks and Muhammad Ali.
Representative Gregory Meeks: We are not going to let history repeat itself. We have got to make sure the modern-day Muhammad Ali, Colin Kaepernick, we surround and support him.
William C. Rhoden: It’s so clear to, I think, everybody that he is being blackballed or blacklisted or banned.
Arielle: Bill Rhoden, writer-at-large at ESPN’s The Undefeated, thinks team owners are worried about a fan backlash if they sign Kaepernick.
Rhoden: NFL owners have decided out of a sense of fear that we are not going to allow this person to even compete for a job.
Arielle: Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly denied the allegation that the football player’s political protest is keeping him off NFL rosters.
Roger Goodell: Our clubs make independent evaluations of players. If they think a player can help them improve their team, they’re going to do that.
Arielle: But many don’t see it that way, especially when, in the past, players who were accused of violent crimes still got to play.
Rhoden: Somebody who made a nonviolent gesture, a nonviolent gesture — just a gesture — will probably not have a job.
Arielle: Arielle Hixson, Channel One News.
Keith: There are some other well-qualified quarterbacks currently out of a job in the NFL, so it is kind of tough to know whether or not it is because of his on-field performance or his protest that is keeping him off the field.
Okay, next up, you may have heard a lot of the buzz about the Powerball lottery game. And now we have got a record-breaking winner. But let’s face it — the odds were never in your favor.
Here she is: Mavis Wanczyk, the big Powerball winner. She beat astronomical odds — get this — 1 in 292.2 million. That means you are more likely to get struck by lightning, more likely to get killed in a shark attack and more likely to achieve sainthood. And this week’s prize money, $758 million, is the largest won by a single ticket in U.S. history.
After taxes and everything, the winner will be taking home around $336 million. That is a lot of Chipotle burritos.
Okay, after the break, why being popular may not be what you really want.
That’s great Channel One News, hold up a multimillionaire NFL player as equal to Rosa Parks then tell kids about the fun of winning a lottery.
