NFL coach Jack Del Rio shouldn’t be fined for calling Jan. 6 a ‘dust-up’

Let’s start with the easy part: Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was wrong to dismiss the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection as a mere “dust-up” that paled next to the riots triggered by George Floyd’s police murder in 2020.

But head coach Ron Rivera was also wrong to fine Del Rio $100,000 for his remarks, which Rivera said “hurt a lot of people in our community.” And if you think otherwise, I’ve got two words for you: Colin Kaepernick.

Remember him? In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback started kneeling during the National Anthem — and also wearing socks depicting police as pigs — to protest police brutality. Police and veterans’ groups responded with outrage, claiming that Kaepernick had — yes — hurt them.

“Many of us in the law enforcement community have been saddened and angered by Kaepernick’s words and actions,” police chief Michael Sellers in Santa Clara, Calif., where the 49ers play their home games, declared at the time. “His blanket statements disparaging the law enforcement profession are hurtful and do not help bring the country together.”

» READ MORE: Jack Del Rio, Commanders, PGA Tour defectors face consequences — maybe forever

By the following year, Kaepernick was out of a job. He still hasn’t returned to the league, because nobody wants to hire someone who says such allegedly hurtful things. And he has become a cause célèbre among some, who argue — correctly — that Kaepernick should not be penalized for his political views.

“No player should be victimized and discriminated against because of his exercise of free speech,” declared Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, in 2017. “To do so is in violation of his rights under the Constitution and the NFL’s own regulations.”

But last week, in response to Del Rio’s comments about Jan. 6, Johnson said that fining Del Rio wasn’t enough: He should resign, Johnson said, or be fired.

“You can’t coach a majority Black team while turning your back on the Black community,” Johnson declared, referencing Del Rio. “It’s time for you to pack up and step off the field.”

“All meaningful speech hurts someone, which is why we must defend it.”

Never mind that Commanders team captain Jonathan Allen — who is African American — said he wasn’t troubled by Del Rio’s remarks. “Me, personally, I don’t care about his opinion,” Allen said. “At the end of the day, you can have a difference in opinion and still respect one another. I feel that’s what our country is about.”

If only that were true. As we saw in the controversy over Kaepernick, we’re perfectly happy to destroy a person’s career if we don’t agree with him. And we seem to be repeating the same error in the case of Jack Del Rio.

Again, Del Rio was wrong to call the violent assault on the Capitol — where multiple police and protesters died, and 140 police officers were injured — a “dust-up.” He said as much last week, apologizing for his “irresponsible and negligent” choice of words in describing the attack.

And let’s be clear: There’s no moral equivalence between Del Rio and Kaepernick. Kaepernick’s protests hurt police and their supporters; Del Rio hurt our entire elected government and everyone who believes in it.

But all meaningful speech hurts someone, which is why we must defend it at all times and places. Jack Del Rio should be able to express his opinions, just as Colin Kaepernick should. And if you want one of them to be protected and the other one to be penalized, you don’t really believe in freedom of speech. You just want freedom for the speech that you like.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools,” which will be published in a revised 20th-anniversary edition this fall by the University of Chicago Press.