Injustices with Robert Kraft and the NFL

 

CLAIRE RODARTE Staff Writer

Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, was ruled not guilty in the trial of the charges of prostitution in spas within Florida. He was among hundreds of other men charged with engaging in sexual activities by paying the owners of spas in multiple states. Kraft was caught on camera doing exactly that on Jan. 20, the date of the AFC Championship game between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kraft left the spa and then proceeded to Kansas City to watch his team win the championship. Nevertheless, he is walking away without being significantly punished, although he will have to do community service and pay a fine for his actions. Kraft will ultimately be walking away from this scandal with nothing but a scratch on his ego. By basically paying his way through this trial, he will still hold his job with the Patriots and continue to make money.

Eventually this case will be forgotten, and he will go on to be successful with nothing else getting in his way. This event will not affect his future as a manager in the NFL, as many other cases like this one have been dismissed in order to keep the name of the league clean and good. This particular situation, or those that are similar to it are constantly brushed aside by the league. There have been multiple cases in the past couple of years of sexual assault and abuse allegations against players and managers.

There has even been video evidence of abuse, but not even that was enough to put the defendant, Ray Rice, in serious trouble. The NFL, and even its fans, continue to protect the players that have done wrong. Meanwhile, there are other players, such as Colin Kaepernick, who have been thrown aside and criticized for standing up for the basic human rights of a group of peoples. There is a double standard when it comes to social justice for racial groups and social justice for the protection of individuals against abuse.

The NFL is not protecting the right people, and it should not continue to go on this way. The event with Kraft is yet another example of this unfortunate acceptance of misconduct. In the proceeding years, the league must make changes in how they deal with abuse and assault scandals, because what they are doing is not cutting it.