It’s Friday and time for our weekly shoot the shit. This is a time when we talk about anything that comes to mind. We allow you the reader to comment freely, whether you know anything about the subject or not. In fact, you can make any unsupported statement, use uncensored profanity, insult anyone you wish or change the subject altogether.

Our shoot the shit topic for this week will take the form of a comment to the NFL and its players.

I can’t think of a professional athlete who at some point in time, in some way or another, has not actively reached out to their communities. Be it charity or civic participation, they’ve made a positive contribution and it’s greatly appreciated, but when you’re making several million dollars per year people expect you to be a cut above the average bear. That means you need to be better informed.

A little over a year ago, Colin Kaepernick, of the San Francisco 49ners, came to the public eye when he began protesting, by not standing while the United States national anthem was being played before the start of a game. His motivation was what he viewed as the oppression of people of color in the United States. There is no doubt in my mind that Colin’s heart was pure, but as we all know the implementation is as important as the idea, and he definitely took the wrong approach. Colin, like many people, allowed himself to be influenced by a media who is unquestionably  the major catalyst for racial divisiveness in this country. Of the many talking points advanced by these organizations, to convince the African American community that the world is out to get them, is the allegation that more African Americans get arrested than whites. So, to give that idea credibility, you viewers are subjected to a 24×7 barrage of what amounts to be propaganda. It’s up to you to validate their presentations. So, what’s the truth? To address the myth, I encourage you to take a look at the FBI:UCR tables 43A (total arrests by race in 2015), 43B (arrests under the age of 18 by race) and 43C (arrests 18 and older by race).  In the interest of brevity, I’ll limit my analysis to table 43A and encourage you to become familiar with the others.

Table 43 A presents total arrests by race for 2015, which looks to be the most current data available from the FBI.  In 2015,  5,753,212 whites and 2,197,140 blacks were arrested.  As a percentage of population,  white arrests account for 2% of the white population while black arrests account for 5% of the African American population. Although prejudice still exists, the 3% difference between white and black arrests is not a result of racism, it is socio economic, broken homes, drug abuse, gang related activity, interrupted or incomplete education. So, I ask all of you NFL players to get off your knees, team up with the large number of serious and credible black reformers actively working in the African American Community to improve the lives of a group of people with enormous capability and talent.

That’s if you really want to make a difference, and by all means bring Colin with you all!

In closing, not standing for the national anthem or respecting the flag is not your answer. Whether you love the country or not, those two symbols of our democracy should never be disrespected. America and all those who served or died for its principles and promise aren’t your problem and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. The solution is in your hands and kneeling won’t get it done. That’s our challenge to you.

• On a lighter side, can anyone tell me why everything sold on the cable networks is $19.99. I don’t get it, so any input is appreciated.
• Our last comment is about the ancestry products. DNA, can determine race, eye color, gender, propensity for a specific disease,  body form and relationship. DNA can accurately determine if you are related to someone else, but that relationship could have originated in Ireland and migrated to Uganda, are you part Irish or are you part Ugandan? Before you voluntarily send anyone your DNA to anyone,  be absolutely certain that access to it will not be sold. Here’s what I mean by that. Your DNA sample is used to create a computer file called a biometric template. That template becomes part of a database , which can then be queried to confirm identify. For example, your bank decides to use your DNA as a way of securing your account and authenticating your identity. In practice, they could launch a query against a non-bank biometric database (one of the ancestry sites for example) to see if your DNA exists, and if it does exist do the identities match.  So, be very careful with your biometric data.

It’s been great shooting the shit with you all. Have a great weekend be safe and spend some quality time with your buds and family. We also ask that you keep in mind the millions of people that are still trying to recover from the recent natural disasters.