Vice President Mike Pence Stages Walkout Amid NFL Player Protests

We Americans are a highly propagandized people. A significant part of waking up, I have found, is in the realization of this fact. This awareness sets us free to question, think critically, research, dig deeply, discern, choose our resources mindfully, and ultimately to increasingly act out of wisdom, compassion, kindness, and consciousness of a larger picture and a higher good. Without awareness of how we are manipulated into turning against one another, rather than experiencing our deep interconnection, we will remain vulnerable to acting out of toxic belief systems and stories that are not rooted in truth and which obstruct our capacity to be awake and engaged in healing ourselves and our world. May we open our eyes and minds and hearts to see and understand the suffering of others and of ourselves. This is how we become healing balms rather than unknowingly perpetuating that which harms. - Molly

And on Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence flew to Indianapolis, where he staged a walkout of an NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts, after players on both teams held a protest against racial injustice during the national anthem. Pence’s decision to leave appeared pre-planned, after President Trump said he asked his Vice President to leave during any protest. More than 20 members of the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the anthem, while Colts players stood with locked arms, wearing shirts reading, “We will stand for equality, justice, unity, respect, dialogue, opportunity.” This is San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid, who joined quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests last year, speaking Sunday.

Eric Reid: “This is about systemic oppression, that has been rampant in this country for decades on top of decades. And I will continue to say and encourage people to educate themselves of how we got to where we are today, because it didn’t happen overnight, and it’s not going to happen overnight to fix these issues. It’s really disheartening when everything that you were raised on, everything that I was raised on, was to be the best person I can be, to help people that need help, and the vice president of the United States is trying to confuse the message that we’re trying to put out there.”

Pence’s brief visit to Indianapolis cost taxpayers an estimated quarter-million dollars, after he traveled from Las Vegas to Indianapolis for the brief appearance at Lucas Oil Stadium before flying back to a fundraising event in California.

This is a Democracy Now! headline: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/9/headlines/vice_president_mike_pence_stages_walkout_amid_nfl_player_protests