Since I started my blog in late 2014, I've tended to stay away from the hard-hitting topics. My articles have mostly had something to do with how bad the Indianapolis Colts are, or obscure Thai golfers that nobody besides me probably particularly cares about very much. Well with all that is going on in the sports world with Colin Kaepernick and other athletes protesting the national anthem, and the political world as its an election year with two candidates with two very different visions of America, I figured that it was finally time to express my views on these things, as they are very much connected.
When I first saw the picture of Colin Kaepernick sitting on the bench while all of his teammates were standing up as the national anthem was playing, I became a little bit perturbed. My first thoughts were "Does he not respect America?", "Does he not respect the soldiers who fight for his right to have the opportunity to be able to play football?" The primary thing which really made me angry though was with the fact that the way he was sitting it didn't seem like he was even acknowledging the anthem being played. But while I was angry, I was also intrigued. There had to be a reason why he was doing this, and as I soon learned, there was.
In an interview with NFL Media Kaepernick said "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."..."To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies on the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
I was very aware of the many times in which unarmed African Americans were being killed by police officers. African Americans have been killed at traffic stops, killed when they were selling CD's, along with many other truly tragic instances. For Colin to use the reason that he was frustrated at the fact that unarmed African Americans were being killed and nothing was being done about it was commendable in my eyes. I truly believe that in America as a nation we do not treat minorities, specifically African Americans who have a long history of injustice towards them in the United States with the respect that they deserve. There is still discrimination in many parts of the country, and while we have gotten better there is still some ways to go for total equality between African Americans and whites. While I still was a little bit angry that Colin chose to sit for the anthem, I now understood the reason why he did this and lauded him for protesting social injustice which I think athletes should do as they have such a big medium.
The biggest thing which changed my attitude towards Colin Kaepernick's is that he changed his protest from sitting for the anthem to kneeling for the anthem. While this may be a small change to some people, to me it was a huge change. Now Kaepernick was actually protesting in a way that actually acknowledged the anthem being played and was doing it to promote necessary social change. While I still choose to stand for the anthem, I completely respect Kaepernick's decision to kneel as a way to protest the way African American's are still being treated.
Since Kaepernick has started protesting many other football players have joined in on his protest. His teammates Eli Harold and Eric Reid have joined him in kneeling, as well as other players around the league such as Arian Foster and Kenny Stills of the Dolphins, and Brandon Marshall of the Broncos (who himself has lost many endorsements because of his protest. Antonio Cromartie did kneel when he played with the Colts for the first few weeks of the season, however he was cut last week leaving some to speculate whether it was because of the fact that he was kneeling or because of his poor play at cornerback. In addition many football players such as the 49ers Antoine Bethea, the Titans Jurrell Casey and Jason McCourty, and the Rams Robert Quinn to name a few, have stood for the national anthem locked arms with their teammates and raised their fist in the air which is the symbol of unity, strength, and defiance to show support with those kneeling. This is reminiscent of John Carlos and Tommy Smith's protest during the 1968 Summer Olympics. Since these protests have started, there has been less shooting of unarmed black individuals by policeman, however there is not the truly impactful social change that Kaepernick and others may have been hoping for with their protest. The fact that now we as a society are at least having a conversation about it and that it has lasted through multiple news cycles is a great start, and hopefully will lead to improvement in race relations in the future. What will be interesting to see is if any white NFL players will join in on the protest, so far it has been all African American players and if a white player were to join I think it could have a huge impact in how big the protest could get.
About a month ago Patriots DE Chris Long expressed his feelings on Kaepernick's protest, and while he said some very very interesting and thought provoking things in the interview there's one quote in particular that stands out to me. "And I respect the anthem. I would never kneel for it. We all come from different walks of life and think differently about the anthem and the flag and what that means. But I think you can respect and find a lot of truth in what those guys are talking about and not kneel." What Long is saying of which I totally agree with, is that as a white male, he cannot even fathom the racism that Kaepernick and other African Americans have faced throughout their lives, so who is he to judge what is an appropriate form of protest or not. As I see it, Kaepernick's protest is 100x more impactful than the violent protests in cities like Ferguson, Baltimore, or Houston because of the fact that its nonviolent. His protest is not physically hurting anyone, and the only violence associated with it are the horrible death threats that he's been receiving. I don't know how much longer Kaepernick's career will last, as he is not performing to the level that he once was under Jim Harbaugh, and he will probably end up being blacklisted by the rest of the NFL because of his protest. I really hope Colin's career doesn't end similarly to Mahmoud Abdul Rauf's who also protested the national anthem because of the fact that he believed that the United States flag was a symbol of oppression and tyranny and conflicted with his Muslim beliefs. In his final season in 2000 he lead the league in field goal percentage but was not re-signed, and tragically a few years later his house was burned down. But I do know that when all is said and done history will remember Kaepernick as someone who valiantly kneeled for what he believed in.
With the Kaepernick situation and our political arena today, one key theme has emerged and that theme is that for many people who are on opposite sides of an issue or situation have a complete inability to empathize or sympathize with one another. This is why I mentioned Chris Long and what he said earlier, as a white football player he has not lived as an African American and cannot speak about what it is like to experience racism. While he may have a difference of opinion for himself personally, he is able to recognize that different people have experienced different things in their lives and may have a different opinion on an issue than he does. We do not have enough people like Chris Long in America today and that is why as a country we are so divided. It is very important that we recognize that no two Americans have had the exact same life experiences. People's life experiences shape their values and opinions on the issues, so it's reasonable to assume that not everyone is going to have the same views on every issue. A Southern Catholic farmer is not going to have the exact same experiences as a Syrian immigrant will, so they probably will have different views on issues. I'm not advocating for everyone to have the same view on every issue either, disagreement and ideas getting challenged is very healthy for the existence of our democracy. The problem that we have run into (and both those on the left and those on the right are to blame for this) is that both the two political parties are moving in the opposite direction. The Republicans say that their platform is "the most conservative platform ever,"and the Democrats say that their platform is "the most progressive ever."Well that's not very helpful if you want to get legislation accomplished. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can seem to acquire the ability to recognize that while they may disagree on the issue there isn't some common ground that they can use to get something accomplished and the stagnancy is hurting Americans. This brings me back to Colin Kaepernick, neither the politicians on the left nor the right are willing to acknowledge any positivity about Kaepernick's protest. Recently Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg even said that it was "dumb and disrespectful". These politicians know that unarmed African Americans being killed is part of a larger issue of race relations in America. They know that we would not be in the position that we are in today with the strides that we've made in equality in the past 50 years if MLK and other African Americans didn't peacefully protest. In an era in which so many athletes are getting in trouble for doing things that they most definitely shouldn't be doing, it's nice to see an athlete using his platform to advocate for social change to make the world a better place.
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