How NFL Protests Mirror Berkeleys 1960s Free Speech Movement (HBO)

In response to President Trump’s call for NFL players to be fired for protesting police brutality during the national anthem, players protested en masse at Sunday’s games.

The battle over free speech in the NFL may be new. But it has uncanny echoes of a 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. The F.S.M.’s goal was a complete repeal of 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