25 June 2019

To Kneel or Not to Kneel (Apparently That is the Question)

I don’t have any interest in the sport of football, and yet, y’all have turned me into a Colin Kaepernick fan. Not because he took a knee to peacefully protest the systemic racism that is so prevalent in our country, though I certainly respect him for it. Not because you disagreed with his approach (you have that right too). It is because you won’t shut up about him. 

You seem to view someone peacefully demonstrating against the serious problems in this country as one of the serious problems itself. If the biggest problem within eyesight is your emotional discomfort with someone protesting oppression while you are trying to kick back on the sofa, then perhaps your eyes do indeed need to stray outside the foul lines for a few minutes.

Look, I understand that you find the act of kneeling during the national anthem disrespectful. I get that you have strong feelings. You are entitled to them. Some of you have served or have friends who have served and even died when this country asked you to take up arms, and that flag and that anthem are powerfully meaningful to you. You find it disrespectful that someone would not show them the same respect you feel.

But Kaepernick is entitled to his thoughts and beliefs too. And he finds it disrespectful that people of color are still dying at the unpunished hands of the law. That racial profiling is still a reality. That a disproportionate number of people of color fill our jail cells. That racism constantly rears its ugly head in this country. 

Neo-Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists openly march in the streets and we still try to pretend that racism isn’t a widespread issue. 

We see too many unarmed black people arrested, beaten, or even killed at the hands of the law and our first response somehow isn’t “We need to change this,” but, “He shouldn’t have been holding a toy gun” (in a store that sells toy guns), “He should have followed the officer’s directions,” or “He must have been a criminal.” Or maybe he shouldn’t have wanted to breathe while being arrested. As if any of those are reasons for immediate execution. 

We get actual videos of these incidents and we still inexplicably hear defenses of them. We still blame the victim. We still see verdicts of not guilty. We are still more upset that someone calmly, peacefully kneels in protest than at what he is protesting.

You are enraged that he is disrespecting symbols you strongly believe in. He is enraged that as a country, we continue to disrespect his life, and the life of his friends, family, and others born without white skin. He is willing to stand up for it. He is willing to be kicked out of the league for it. He is willing to do what he believes is right because he is in a position where he can gain a spotlight and focus on issues that need to be addressed.

To those of us born with white skin, I understand that we can’t fully comprehend the differences in fear, prejudice, and discrimination in this country, but we should at least be trying. Hard. By listening to—not ignoring—this conversation.

We are more upset that he took a knee than that people are literally dying.

The fact that we aren’t outraged is the outrage. 

In case you didn’t know, this national anthem you insist he should be respecting was written by a pro-slave advocate in 1814 when slavery was the law of the land. Yes, we are literally demanding that Kaepernick stand and respect something created by someone who thought he should be shackled and beaten. This “land of the free” we sing about did not, according to the author, include him. 

And, in 2017, our response to his objection is still “shut up and do as you’re told”?? 

Our inability to even recognize this as a problem is why players kneel.


25 Sep 2017

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