Letters: Protesting social injustice or giving up?

We make a big deal about "Four Eagles raise fists during national anthem" (Tuesday), and NFL players in other games making gestures, kneeling, and sitting in protest. Yet, another unarmed African American father was shot and killed Friday, in Tulsa, Okla., because he "won't show me his hands," although more than one video showed the poor soul standing there, hands raised, and the cop running up and shooting.

The police chief promised a full investigation. Such investigations usually show the police did the right thing and followed department procedures. It is time for a rational national discussion on how officers should control themselves under instantaneous pressure. Why is it necessary to fire kill shots?

Some police departments are making progress on this.

The alleged bomber in New York and New Jersey was shot in the leg and apprehended.

It's also time to stop blaming people who are keeping the issue up front, where we can see it. Yes, it is a dangerous world, but it's time look at our behavior and not criticize the messenger. Good for the four Eagles and everyone who calls for justice and integrity.

Ed Tomezsko, chancellor emeritus, Penn State Brandywine, Philadelphia, info@esjt.com

Stand and fight to make things right

I couldn't identify why I felt NFL quarternback Colin Kaepernick was wrong for not participating in our national anthem - until I saw the opening of a rugby match between New Zealand and South Africa. The way those players linked their arms and sang their respective anthems, the way the fans in the stands put their hands over their hearts and sang with pride and emotion.

An anthem is about allegiance to the ideals of a nation. We should all want to stand up for the ideals of our nation, even as we fight amongst ourselves to enact those ideals. To not stand up says I am giving up.

We need to fight to make things the way we want. We ALL need to participate, and that often means we will fight each other to claim our rights, but that is the price we pay to reap the rewards of union.

The rise of domestic terrorism is a symptom of people feeling they are not part of the whole. Standing for the anthem makes a declaration that I AM HERE, and I AM PART OF THE WHOLE, and I WILL FIGHT to make this union what it should be.

Just one black woman's opinion.

Addie Dewitt, Philadelphia, addee2d@gmail.com

Replace gestures with positive action

With player protests growing around the NFL over what players see as injustice toward black Americans across the country, the only thing really changing is the anger by fans at players who sit or kneel during our national anthem.

The NFL and its players are playing with dynamite. I walked away from baseball, my favorite sport, when the players walked out in 1994, so I can certainly turn my back on football today.

If the players want to show how much this means to them, they could donate a game's salary each season. In each NFL city, they could open urban education centers to teach children how to stay safe and to provide places to play and exercise safely. Players could invite police to teach classes and start a police version of the military's Reserved Officers' Training Corp, which would offer young people a career that would eventually allow them to patrol their own neighborhoods.

Talk and gestures are cheap - the players should do something constructive that the American people will get behind and feel good about supporting.

Fran Steffler, Philadelphia, fsteffler@aol.com