Pro-Police Organization Blue Lives Matter Rejects NFL's Bid To Partner with Group
WARNING: This article contains a social media post with an image of graphic violence that some viewers may find offensive.
The pro-police organization Blue Lives Matter turned down a request from the New York Jets on Tuesday to partner with the organization, the New York Post reported.
Blue Lives Matter said the NFL team doesn’t respect police officers and employs a player — running back Isaiah Crowell — who posted an image on Instagram of an officer’s throat being slashed.
“With the NFL season right around the corner, there is no better time to open up a conversation about how your business/organization can benefit from a partnership with the New York Jets,” New York Jets’ Anthony Bulak wrote in an email to Joe Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter.
Within minutes, the NFL team had an answer from the organization.
According to the Post, Imperatrice responded to the request instantly, commenting on the NFL’s toxicity.
“Although I’d love to work with an NFL team right now I feel it is not the right time,” he said. “All over the United States players feel entitled to disrespect our first responders, our military members both past and present and our flag. These players make more money in a season than some people make in a lifetime and their ‘Issues’ are made up, exaggerated, and more times than not false.
“Once again I do appreciate the offer but revenue we have could better be spent on the families of officers killed in the line of duty protecting the ignorance of these individuals rather than contributing to their paycheck.”
Bulak further tried to convince Imperatrice, stating that no one from the Jets had ever knelt in protest during the national anthem.
“I appreciate you sharing your opinion and although I can’t comment too much on it what I will say is the Jets have never had a player protest our anthem. The Jets have always been supportive of our police, firefighters, EMTs, etc. and will continue to do so,” Bulak said. He also included an attachment to a flyer promoting their First Responders Night.
However, Imperatrice pointed out that the Jets signed Crowell in March, attaching the picture from his deleted Instagram post depicting a picture of a shaded figure slashing the throat of a police officer. The picture included a the caption, “Mood: They give polices all types of weapons and they continuously choose to kill us…#Weak.”
Posted and then deleted from Isaiah Crowell’s Instagram. pic.twitter.com/5gquTsL1Qc
— Cleveland Sports Talk (@CLEsportsTalk) July 11, 2016
Crowell was with the Cleveland Browns at the time of the post, which occurred in July 2016 after the police shooting deaths of two black men. It also came the day before the ambush killings of five police officers in Dallas.
Crowell quickly deleted the post and apologized for it.
“Last week was an emotional and difficult week as we saw extreme acts of violence against black men across our country as well as against police officers in Dallas,” he wrote on social media. “I posted an image to Instagram in the midst of that emotion that I shouldn’t have and immediately removed it. It was an extremely poor decision and I apologize for that mistake and for offending people.
“My values and beliefs do not match that image. I am outraged and upset by the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile along with so many others. I am also outraged and saddened by the attacks in Dallas and the deaths of the five honorable police officers (Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa) who were providing protection while trying to keep peace.
“We have to be better as a society, it’s not about color, it’s about what’s right and wrong. I was very wrong in posting that image. Every single life matters, every death as a result of violence should be treated with equal outrage and penalty.”
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