You can’t sidestep whatever constitutes racism in today’s society. He had to choose a side, and if the above posts are true, he was given a side to take.
Time for turbulence. Good news is he’s got the boosters on his side so far. Bad news, he may not have the base needed to recruit to now.
Here's the brass tax of any team , the players run the team. When I coached, I told my assistant coaches, "the parents/players ultimately run the team". We can make all the rules and policies we want, but if no one shows up to play or if no one follows them, it doesn't matter. We'll be on the practice field and it be just us (the coaches).
It's no different in college. Coach Saban can yell, scream and raise hell all he wants. But if he can't get players to come to his program, his rules don't matter. To get someone to follow you and go by your "rules", they have to believe you care about them and have a genuine interest in them. That's why Saban's players love him so much. What's important to the team, is important to him. That's why he handled the on campus march for social justice the way he did. Ultimately, it was important to the team and I have no doubt he sat them all down, they talked about it, probably "shared some feelings" etc. There may have even been some disagreement among the team. But you know what, when they came out of that meeting they came out as a team and coach saban was leading the way. THAT'S how you handle the clutter.
Because you're right, in today's technological world where what someone says or doesn't say can literally be streamed around the world in real time. No one has a choice of IF they're going to address something or not.
It's HOW.