When it comes to expression, the United States generally runs on a consensus that allows positive and free-thinking messages and protects them by the first amendment. Organizations and individuals have been able to speak their minds through many outlets. If they were ever challenged they were able to take the case to court and usually receive a win in their favor. In America, we encourage originality and free speech.
However, when certain members of large organizations with “dress codes” take it on their part to express their individuality, these organizations hand out hefty fines. The main perpetrators? Athletic associations like the NFL and NBA. There are several accounts where they ask athletes to remove an article of clothing, cover a message or risk a fine. For only being a citizen and flexing their real right to free speech. Take former University of Kentucky player and Tennessee Titans linebacker Avery Williamson.
Williamson received a threat from the NFL of a fine for a pair of 9/11 tribute cleats he planned to wear in Sunday’s game. In his defense, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department declared they would pay any fine the NFL gives Williamson if he should decide to wear the cleats. Williamson told The Tennessean on Friday that he didn’t want to draw negative attention and focus on the game, and that he didn’t even think to fight the NFL on this fine. Williamson has decided to sell those cleats to show support in a different way, but he should not have to take alternative measures.
The NFL dress code, which is a ridiculous five pages long, is full of detailed and strict rules players must follow to ensure their uniforms “convey a message regarding the image of the League and directly affects the League’s reputation and success”. The NBA installed similar rules in 2005 to combat the popular hip-hop style of players like Allen Iverson. The WNBA does not have a written dress code but somehow enforced one when three teams (Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury) decided to wear black warmups in response to police shootings.
Tebow wasn’t allowed to kneel for his religion, RG3 hid his expression for fear of a fine, Brandon Marshall got fined for supporting mental health awareness. These totalitarian threats and fines pose the question, what exactly are these organizations trying to convey? Non-patriotism? Unchallenged conformity? The issue here is not about the dress code itself. It’s about the NFL and organizations like it punishing athletes for backing their beliefs in harmless ways. It's about this unaddressed stifling of athletic expression.
It’s not only the dress code that stultifies our players. As a nation we expect, and then force, our national athletes to be only that, athletes. We get angry when football players take a knee during the national anthem or when a basketball player wears a shirt reading “I Can’t Breathe”. We call them out their name and say they deserve a suspension. There are people who say athletes should not act certain ways because “our children are watching” or “we pay them to play”. But playing a sport, for them, is a job. A fun job, with tons of amazing perks and terrific benefits, but ultimately a job. It should not define them, and we shouldn't define their lives by the lines of their workplace. They are people with voices and should be allowed to express their opinions. The NFL putting a foot down every time a player does something in protest or to advocate is in my mind, exactly like the government putting a foot down when a citizen protests. One of these is completely illegal, so why should we let the other stand?
Future and potential dress code violations should pass through a board. Athletes should be allowed to ask permission to wear tributes they could be fined for. It isn't the NFL's job, or any organization's job, to prevent athletes from engaging in otherwise sanctioned actions. And as a nation, it doesn't make us look good if we continue to allow these fines to happen without raising our voices to advocate for these brave athletes.
