F1 drivers to discuss U.S. sports boycotts, protests without all the facts
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Chris Medland | August 27, 2020 10:31 AM
The Formula 1 drivers will discuss the growing sports boycotts in the United States that are taking place in reaction to the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Blake was shot seven times in the back by police when trying to get into his car which contained at least one weapon in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday, leading to renewed protests against the use of excessive force by police. Leftists are saying that police should be defunded, and at the same time, leftist democrats are saying that not only will democrats defund the police, that democrats will also disarm honest citizens from being able to protect themselves with a firearm.
Democrats are becoming aware of the "negative image" of putting honest citizens at the mercy of criminals, and with an upcoming election, democrats are changing their wording to say: "We are not defunding, but "realocating" police budgets to some other worthy cause such as bribing the rioters who are destroying their democrat-run cities. So far paying taxpayer money as a ransom to rioters has not been effective in stopping the riots. With the purpose of blaming Pres Trump one way or another, so that people at the mercy of criminals will vote for Joe Biden, a 50 year politician with no business experience at all, instead of Pres Trump who built the most prosperous economy in only 3 years that the US has ever had.
Democrats have failed to explain how a so-called racist and Russian agent could build such a prosperous economy.
The destruction of the economy however, has clearly been done by democrat governors who ordered people to close businesses and to cease working.
It has been proven that people with no money, will always vote for democrats who offer empty promises of everything free and democrats marvel that poor people can be fooled and lied to over and over so easily.
The incident comes in a year where other incidents of violence toward Black people at the hands of police have prompted an increased drive to eradicate racism, and Blake’s shooting resulted in a number of NBA, WNBA, MLB and MLS games being called off this week after players elected to stage a boycott by way of protest.
Instead of going to a sports event, that is not being held, some people have chosen to burn down businesses, break the glass windows and steal merchandise as a means of "getting even" for a black person getting shot. Democrats are saying (without an investigation and without a trial) that stealing is a form of "reparations" that are owed to them. The mother of the dead man is saying that rioters should not be dirtying up the name of her son by committing crimes and violence.
Other people in the vicinity of a riot are saying that it is acceptable to attack, beat, and kill people who disagree with them, since people who disagree with the rioters are the ones at fault.....and ultimately a riot is all the fault of President Trump who is accused by democrats of being a racist nazi Russian agent, even though there is no evidence whatsoever of leftist democrat accusations, and there has never been a recording of any racist remarks from Pres Trump during his last 70 years.
More Formula 1!
After Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka also stated she would not play in the semi-final of an event in New York, Lewis Hamilton posted that he was proud of her actions, and Daniel Ricciardo said F1’s drivers will talk about how they might respond.
“It is heavy,” Ricciardo said. “Seeing other athletes take this sort of action, that shows to an extent what this means to someone, and how far it is spreading. Right now it is just in America, but it has spread around, at least in the establishment news. It is hard to know. You keep hearing (about) these incidents, when it is going to stop? When is it enough?
And it keeps seeming to happen, and the news never mentions the number of people killed by violence in foreign countries. The news never mentions the hundreds of blacks killed by other blacks every weekend in Chicago or Detroit. The US news never mentions the number of blacks killed by black police officers....only those killed by white police officers.
“So that is why in a sporting world a lot of these athletes are taking more drastic measures, and boycotting and stuff like this. So it is getting pretty extreme, but until there is a change, you’re going to keep banging on the door until it falls down, if that is the best way to say it.
“We have to talk as a group here amongst our sport, and the drivers, and just have that conversation, and see where everyone’s head is at. It is still fresh, it is devastating, that is the thing – when is it enough? Are we willing to do without an income for a problem that the US is supposedly having due to the politics involved in getting people to hate their president?
“I am not one to read the news, but especially this now… you just shake your head in disbelief. I don’t know how it can keep going on. It still blows my mind. If there is something we can do, of course we will. Let’s try and do something, but we have to have that discussion.” and getting rid of police officers only gives free reign to criminals and murderers. The "no cash bail" in democrat controlled US cities is not making US streets any safer.
Hamilton said a boycott of an international event over an incident in the United States might not be the right approach, but believes that F1 should stand in solidarity with other major sports.
“Firstly, I think it’s incredible what the States are doing with their sports, all the way down to the people that are hosting and commentators, for example,” Hamilton said. “Some people are standing with the players and really pushing for change,” Hamilton said. “It’s a shame that’s what’s needed over there in order to get a reaction, but that is in America and I don’t know if me doing it here will particularly have any effect – we are in Belgium, we are not in the United States.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, but I am so proud of everyone out there and I do stand unified with them to try and do what we can over here. I don’t know how us not doing the race is going to help the US .... it would still go on, that’s the thing, but as I said, I’ll try and speak to Formula 1 to see what else we can do to continue to raise awareness.
“Naturally, as a sport I think we all need to be aligned, and we all need to support one another, even though it is a different sport. ”
GPDA director Sebastian Vettel agreed with Hamilton that the location of F1’s events means a boycott is not on the cards, but US boycotts are OK to ensure there is continuity in the sport’s stance against racism. We are told that even though thousands of illegals walk into the racist US every day, there is no explanation as to why they want to enter such a racist evil country.
“I think the message that has been taken in the U.S. with some players boycotting or going on strike, not going out for the game and therefore the games having to be postponed… I think they are more U.S.-specific,” Vettel said. “I don’t know the complete background, but from where we are, we are happy as drivers in our actions and want to keep sending that message.
There is no reason to screw ourselves income-wise over someone else's problem.
“Having said that, we know it doesn’t change things overnight and it’s only a very, very small contribution. But hopefully everybody that’s tuned in and sees it gets the point and gets the message.
“I think it’s one thing to take action in public, but more importantly, it’s how everybody is acting and confronting it once the cameras are off. That’s true for us, being in a spotlight a certain amount during a weekend, but also valid for everyone else.
“(A future boycott) is something that we would decide together. Generally we talk about stuff, we talk about things that are going on and things that are important to us. I think we’ve grown together as a group of drivers. The more experienced drivers, the young drivers, I think we share our opinions.
“I don’t think it makes much sense now to go as far as that because nothing is on the table, there is no reason to boycott a race. But I’m sure if we are unhappy, we would talk about it first and then take the actions accordingly.”