Justice  /  Video

How NFL Protests Mirror Berkeley’s 1960s Free Speech Movement

The football players are following in a long tradition of protest.

Embedded video

If the video does not load or is not working, it may be a problem with the video service, or you may need to turn off an ad blocking browser extension.

NFL players protested en masse at Sunday’s games after President Trump called for them to be fired for the act of protesting police brutality during the national anthem.

The battle over free speech in the NFL may be new, but it carries echoes of the 1960s fight at UC-Berkeley waged by a coalition of students from across the political spectrum known as the Free Speech Movement. The F.S.M. started in the fall of 1964 after the Berkeley administration banned all political activity on campus with the goal of repealing the ban. But the energy that drove the movement came from deeper grievances.

VICE News looks at the root of the movement and how it connects to today’s free speech battles: