The St. Louis Police Officers Association released a strongly-worded condemnation of five St. Louis Rams players who entered the field prior to the team’s game against the Oakland Raiders utilizing the “hands up don’t shoot” pose that has come to define protests in Ferguson, Missouri over the past few months (via KSDK.com).
St. Louis, Missouri (November 30, 2014) – The St. Louis Police Officers Association is profoundly disappointed with the members of the St. Louis Rams football team who chose to ignore the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury this week and engage in a display that police officers around the nation found tasteless, offensive and inflammatory.
Five members of the Rams entered the field today exhibiting the “hands-up-don’t-shoot” pose that has been adopted by protestors who accused Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson of murdering Michael Brown.The gesture has become synonymous with assertions that Michael Brown was innocent of any wrongdoing and attempting to surrender peacefully when Wilson, according to some now-discredited witnesses, gunned him down in cold blood.
SLPOA Business Manager Jeff Roorda said, “now that the evidence is in and Officer Wilson’s account has been verified by physical and ballistic evidence as well as eye-witness testimony, which led the grand jury to conclude that no probable cause existed that Wilson engaged in any wrongdoing, it is unthinkable that hometown athletes would so publicly perpetuate a narrative that has been disproven over-and-over again.”Roorda was incensed that the Rams and the NFL would tolerate such behavior and called it remarkably hypocritical. “All week long, the Rams and the NFL were on the phone with the St. Louis Police Department asking for assurances that the players and the fans would be kept safe from the violent protesters who had rioted, looted, and burned buildings in Ferguson. Our officers have been working 12 hour shifts for over a week, they had days off including Thanksgiving cancelled so that they could defend this community from those on the streets that perpetuate this myth that Michael Brown was executed by a brother police officer and then, as the players and their fans sit safely in their dome under the watchful protection of hundreds of St. Louis’s finest, they take to the turf to call a now-exonerated officer a murderer, that is way out-of-bounds, to put it in football parlance,” Roorda said.
The SLPOA is calling for the players involved to be disciplined and for the Rams and the NFL to deliver a very public apology. Roorda said he planned to speak to the NFL and the Rams to voice his organization’s displeasure tomorrow. He also plans to reach out to other police organizations in St. Louis and around the country to enlist their input on what the appropriate response from law enforcement should be.
Roorda warned, “I know that there are those that will say that these players are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. Well I’ve got news for people who think that way, cops have first amendment rights too, and we plan to exercise ours. I’d remind the NFL and their players that it is not the violent thugs burning down buildings that buy their advertiser’s products. It’s cops and the good people of St. Louis and other NFL towns that do. Somebody needs to throw a flag on this play. If it’s not the NFL and the Rams, then it’ll be cops and their supporters.”
Here are the pregame “festivities.”
https://vine.co/v/OnP6xj73MLD
In case you have been hiding under a rock in recent months, protests have flamed out of control with citizens battling against authorities in Ferguson following the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by former police officer Darren Wilson, who has since stepped down from his post.
These protests kicked back up this past week after a grand jury did not indict Wilson for the death of Brown.
With racial tensions near a tipping point in Ferguson and around the United States, these Rams players figured there was no better stage than the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis to make a statement.
Several Rams players who took part in the protest prior to the game spoke about the situation with the Associated Press after the team beat Oakland 52-0 on Sunday (h/t USA Today).
“I just think there has to be a change,” tight end Jared Cook said after the Rams’ 52-0 rout over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. “There has to be a change that starts with the people that are most influential around the world. No matter what happened on that day, no matter how the whole situation went down, there has to be a change.”
I don’t want the people in the community to feel like we turned a blind eye to it,” Kenny Britt said. “What would I like to see happen? Change in America.”
Regardless of the statement by the St. Louis Police Officers Association, Rams players had every right to take a stand in favor of the protests. We live in an open society where freedom of speech has to be recognized.
Photo: USA Today