To the editor:

Passage of time and prolonged thought do make for positive change.

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell recently stated the NFL was wrong for not listening to players about the concerns of race, including kneeling during the national anthem during games.

During the 2016 football season some black players began to kneel during the pre-game playing of our national anthem. White folks, especially sport fans, accused the players of being disrespectful of our nation’s flag and of being un-American with their behavior.

The players are American citizens and as such recognize the flag as our national symbol of freedom and justice. One portion of a line of our national anthem contains the words “‘er the land of the free….” These words can be difficult for anyone to sing or believe if they themselves, their family or communities have experienced long standing discrimination, racism, oppression, inequality or brutality. Hence the potential of and actual kneeling becomes a silent expression of questioning sincerity and truth of those oft sung words.

We have seen and heard via national media of a national leader suggesting that the SOB kneelers be ejected from the game, the team and from the league. May time and thought shed their grace and influence upon him.