Corporations are stoic beasts, often fixated on the bottom line, who are loath to take a political stance which could alienate some part of their customer base and preclude future access to their wallets. But every now and then, some radical thinking CEO decides to pull a “PopEye” and declare that they have had all that they can stand, they can’t stand no more.
New England Patriots owner and CEO Robert Kraft explained his “Popeye” yesterday and why it was a “no-brainer” to lend the team jet to the families of the 17 victims and other injured students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who were participating on Saturday in the “March for Our Lives” rally against gun violence in Washington DC.
Kraft acted on a request to lend the team’s Boeing 767 from former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, herself a victim of gun violence, and her husband, Mark Kelly. Kraft’s mini dissertation on the topic and and his clear frustration follows below:
“I have a big problem with what’s going on in Washington and the divisiveness, and no one’s listening to one another, and forgetting where you stand on this issue. So when they called and asked, would you send a plane to help take the wounded kids and their families, kids who couldn’t go on a normal plane, we didn’t hesitate a minute.
“Think, all of you who have kids. Think about losing one of your kids. You wake up in the morning, they go to school, and they don’t come home at night. I just thought this is a way for our organization to reach out to these people who were hurting bad. I can’t think of a worse unnatural thing than losing a child. Think of little kids going to school and seeing bullets, in America, going over their head. Something’s not right, and we’ve got to fix it. Congratulations to these kids for trying to get the attention of this country focused on it.
“I hope our friends in Washington are smart enough to figure out a way to listen to one another and do something that can be positive.”
We applaud your strong words Mr. Kraft, but unfortunately our friends in Washington, specifically our Republican friends, continue to hide out on this issue, so that makes your suggestion to listen to one another a little hard to pull off. With Congress on recess at the end of last week, Republicans had a built-in excuse to literally and figuratively head for the hills on this one, so none of them stuck around to hear what the kids had to say.
Once onboard the Patriots jet, the students and their families were greeted by a letter of support from Kraft which read:
"On behalf of the New England Patriots organization, I want to express our support as you travel to Washington for this weekend's March for Our Lives. In the wake of incredible tragedy, we have hurt for you, mourned with you and been inspired by you. It is an honor for us to now partner with you as you push for progress.
Your community is stirring our country towards a better future. That is the true mark of a patriot. Thank you for your leadership and inspiration. Best wishes as you prepare for takeoff on your journey."
So now, let’s compare Mr. Kraft’s words and deeds to those of the tone deaf dunderhead and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum who suggested on CNN that the students would be better off taking a CPR course rather than trying to motivate a Republican Congress to do something positive for once in their sorry lives.
President Trump at least avoided putting his foot in his mouth on this one, but he did so by high tailing it out of town over the weekend and headed to his personal golf course, again, where his motorcade took the long way home to avoid even driving by protesters. For a brief moment in time, when the President met with survivors of the shooting, we all thought he might actually lead the country forward on this one. But a meeting with the NRA the very next day caused him to crawl back to the safety and comfort of his Twitter feed, and a briefly hoped for bang, ended with a whimper.
Mr. Kraft’s assistance on this worthy effort will certainly lead to some blow back from some of the good ‘ol boys who buy seasons tickets every year, who will view this as a big nod to those on the left who, they will say, harbor a long term goal to repeal the second amendment. But he appears willing to accept it, and we should note that this is not the first time the corporate owner of the New England Patriots has taken a personally difficult stand. He previously stood up for his players’ right to protest during the national anthem at the start of each game. The most interesting part of all this is that it comes from a man who was a big supporter of Mr. Trump and who reportedly donated $1 million to his campaign.
Proving that there are people on both sides of the aisle that can come together and agree on common sense steps to make our country a better place to live.
And for those of you Patriots haters out there, you might ask yourselves, what has your team done to take a stand ? What has your team done to take a risk?
[Footnote - coincidentally, tonight I will be attending the Boston Speaker Series with Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly. I am looking forward to hearing their perspective on this important issue first hand.]
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